Moderna Logo (PRNewsFoto/Moderna Therapeutics)
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial has hit a roadblock. Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) learned that contractors it had hired failed to recruit sufficient numbers of minorities for the 30,000-person study, according to a Reuters report.
The lack of Black, Latinos and Native American patients led the company to tap academic researchers with ties to diverse communities.
Moderna didn’t not immediately respond to a request for comment from Drug Discovery & Development.
As of September 17, African Americans comprised 7% of trial participants, yet the make-up roughly the proportion of the U.S. population is 13%.
The company announced on October 22 that its trial was fully enrolled its trial, with 30,000 participants — 37% of which are minorities.
According to the CDC, COVID-19 disproportionately affects several ethnic groups. African Americans, for instance, are 2.6 times more likely to contract the virus than non-Hispanic whites.
Moderna is making progress in recruiting minorities. As of October 16, 2020, roughly 36% of cumulatively enrolled trial participants enrolled hailed from minority communities.
Filed Under: clinical trials, Drug Discovery, Drug Discovery and Development
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