“The absence of sufficient financial support is overwhelmingly a factor that limits participation in clinical trials, especially those from lower-income backgrounds.”

‍

As we know, financial barriers often deter individuals from participating in clinical trials, especially those from underrepresented and marginalized communities. In the DIA Global Forum's December 2024 Issue, the article "Breaking Financial Barriers: Making the Shift to Reasonable Compensation for Clinical Trial Participants" applies a multi-disciplinary approach to this topic, from patient advocates, biopharma, and site management, to bioethics, IRBs, and industry suppliers - including insight from the Patient Kindness group at Mural Health, along with Mural’s co-founder and CEO, Samuel Whitaker.

There’s a lot of nuance involved when you dig into the details: inconsistent compensation protocols across research systems and sites, detrimental semantic overlap (e.g. using the terms “stipend,” “reimbursement,” and “payment” interchangeably), and varying compensation models to name a few. The article highlights Mural Health's proprietary research, which underscores the financial challenges faced by clinical trial participants. Through one-on-one interviews conducted by Mural Health's Patient Kindness team, the research reveals that current compensation models often undervalue participants' time and effort, contributing to low enrollment rates, especially among underrepresented groups. The study advocates for standardized and transparent payment models to help alleviate financial barriers to clinical trial participation and promote greater inclusivity in research.

This is an incredibly important topic for our industry, so we encourage you to check out the full article here: