How is thalidomide—the drug that resulted in over 10,000 children with birth defects—related to Alzheimer’s? Once a scandal that rocked the health care world, thalidomide can now be viewed as a vital lesson on the importance of inclusivity in clinical trials—something lacking in the Alzheimer’s disease space.

  1. Remote Location Disparity. Most studies are held in or near large metropolitan cities, given that it is usually universities and hospitals that are equipped to perform the trials. To reach these sites, rural-dwelling individuals and their caregivers must potentially travel hundreds of miles to receive treatment, often for multiple sessions that continue over several years of time. Unfortunately, this may not be a viable option, leaving behind a huge part of the population—a group suffering from higher levels of poverty and disabilities, and containing the largest proportion of military veterans, who have a 60 percent higher likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease.
  2. Socioeconomic Disparity. Individuals from lower socioeconomic brackets are also frequently absent from Alzheimer’s clinical trials. As a further blow to inclusion, this group often includes minorities who have a higher likelihood of acquiring Alzheimer’s due to certain risk factors, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. There is usually a lack of reimbursement for transportation and other expenses incurred while traveling to a clinical trial.

Read the full article on Alzheimer’s clinical trials by Kirstie Keller at Milken Institute