Prostate cancer affects Black men more than men of other races, leading to higher incidence rates and poorer outcomes. However, Black men are underrepresented in clinical trials, making it difficult for doctors to determine the best treatment options for them.
Keith D. Crawford, M.D., Ph.D.
Director of Clinical Trials and Education, Prostate Health Education Network
Lack of clinical trial participation worsens existing disparities, contributing to almost 30% of all prostate cancer deaths in the United States among Black men. Including this at-risk population in clinical trials is important to reduce these deaths.
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) advocates that the best management of any cancer patient is within a clinical trial, emphasizing the importance of participation. However, Black men are often underrepresented, leading to insufficient data to compare clinical outcomes between Black and White men with prostate cancer.
“Knowledge and participation are our best defenses against prostate cancer,” says Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN) president and founder Thomas A. Farrington. “To eliminate the racial disparity in prostate cancer, we must ensure that everyone has access to the latest treatments.”
PHEN has taken significant steps to address this issue through initiatives like the PHEN Clinical Trial Rally. Surveys conducted during prostate cancer awareness events revealed that, while many individuals were interested in participating in clinical trials, they were unaware of them or had never been asked. PHEN’s approach involves educating survivors and caregivers about clinical research and creating a digital platform that enables patients to identify relevant clinical trials.
Raising awareness
The organization also launched the Clinical Trials Learning Session, which fosters direct communication and education between prostate cancer patients and clinical trial investigators. With this program raising awareness about ongoing clinical trials, PHEN has helped sponsors increase enrollment of Black and Hispanic participants in clinical trials — in some cases, more than threefold.
Raising awareness about clinical trials is a key focus of PHEN, which they achieve through community events and online programming. PHEN brings patients together with the institutions that conduct the clinical trials to break down communication and trust barriers that some Black patients may experience facing these medical giants. To achieve this, they organize learning sessions that unite patients and medical leaders. Using this approach, they have collaborated with renowned cancer centers such as Dana-Farber Cancer Center, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Duke Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Cancer Center at Mayo Clinic, University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Feedback from educational presentations shows over 60% of attendees would consider participating in a clinical trial, prompting the launch of the Clinical Trial Rally. This effort leverages the PHEN relationship between faith-based organizations and urban academic cancer centers to help recruit Black patients into clinical trials.
Personalizing treatment
Advancements in precision oncology using DNA testing for tailored therapies hold promise. Genomic tests provide insights that help doctors devise personalized treatment plans. This approach is especially crucial for Black men, who often develop more aggressive prostate cancer at a younger age. However, there is a lack of genomic data from Black and Hispanic Americans, which stems from their underrepresentation in clinical trials.
To tackle this issue, PHEN’s precision oncology website educates all prostate cancer patients about this subject and alerts them to newly-recruiting precision oncology trials. Through this resource, they hope to empower all patients, particularly Black patients, by encouraging participation in groundbreaking clinical trials.
PHEN recognizes that Black men are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer compared to men of other races. To save lives, it’s crucial to increase awareness and encourage participation in clinical trials to improve outcomes for everyone. As precision oncology advances, PHEN will continue to create tools and resources to support all individuals throughout their prostate cancer journey.
