Drugmakers focus on African Americans
By Charlie Smith
Staff Writer
Greenwood Commonwealth > Archives > News > Top Stories > Drugmakers focus on African Americans
Drugmakers are trying to do a better job of creating medicines for diseases that disproportionately affect African Americans, a spokesman for U.S. drug companies' main lobbying group says.
Ken Johnson, a senior vice president for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, admitted that drug companies have often failed to respond to the health needs of African Americans in the past.
Two years ago, the participants in clinical trials of new drugs were almost all white men, he said. In recent years, drug companies have tried to get more minority participants, but blacks have been hesitant to participate, Johnson said.
A distrust of drug companies dates back to the Tuskegee projects of the 1930s through the 1970s, in which black men in Tuskegee, Ala., who had syphilis were intentionally not given antibiotics so doctors could study the disease's effects over time, he said.
Drug companies are now making a real effort to improve their relationship with African Americans, he said.
“Part of our mission is a plea for more African Americans to take part in clinical trials,” he said.
Johnson's group released a report Monday in Jackson on drugs in development for diseases that plague African Americans.
“The report shows that American pharmaceutical companies are developing 691 medicines for diseases that disproportionately affect African Americans,” Johnson said. “Our hope is to cut the gap between African Americans and other Americans.”
He said drug companies are sincere in their desire to combat diseases that affect blacks and find out why they are affected more often.
“For example, we want to know why African-American men are 2.5 times more likely to die from prostate cancer than whites,” Johnson said.
The reasons why African Americans are more likely to get certain diseases are not understood, he said. Researchers need to understand hereditary factors, lifestyles and ethnicity better.
Johnson said there also is a disparity in access to health care and medicines. That gap is more likely to shrink if blacks participate in drug trials, he said.
The drug industry recognizes that new drugs do no one any good if people can't afford drugs, Johnson said. Patients don't get treated, and drug companies don't make any money, he said.
The drug industry came up with the Partnership for Prescription Assistance to help poor people who do not qualify for Medicaid. He said 85,000 people in Mississippi get free or nearly free medicine through the program. Another 50,000 are eligible but don't know about the program, he said.
Making a new drug usually takes about 10 years, he said.
“The good news is that most of these medicines are in Phase II or Phase III,” Johnson said.
Phase III of clinical testing involves 1,000 to 5,000 and is the last step before FDA approval.
Johnson said the medicines in development include drugs for cancer, heart disease, diabetes and HIV, all of which affect African Americans more often than other Americans.
Johnson also said three medications are under development for sickle cell anemia, a blood disorder found almost entirely in blacks.
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This article appeared in the local paper here yesterday. While I’m happy that pharmaceutical companies are more adamant “now” in manufacturing drugs that specifically focus on diseases that plague the African American community, I’m still not so sure I’m ready to be a guinea pig for clinical trial to produce said drugs. And with that statement, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve just proven their statement:
“ In recent years, drug companies have tried to get more minority participants, but blacks have been hesitant to participate…”
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