Key Takeaways and Learnings
- Representation is so much more than just showing up. Performative inclusion weakens trust and risks perpetuating disparities.
- Co-creation with pharmaceutical diversity partners is essential and should begin at the protocol level.
- Accountability and measurable engagement drive success.
- For a deeper look at what meaningful collaboration looks like, download Acclinate’s Health Equity Partnership Guide.
Too often, pharmaceutical diversity partners, including community and faith-based organizations, advocacy leaders, and grassroots groups—have been expected to “show up” but not asked to stay. Sponsors and CROs seek out their insights and ask for their help in recruiting, but they seldom include them in outreach design or decision-making.
But you can’t ensure representation in clinical research with flashy claims and one-off outreach. It takes effort and investment, including long-term collaboration, co-creation, and accountability.
Let’s explore the pitfalls of siloed trial design and how to avoid them with authentic, inclusive partnerships.
Performative Inclusion Isn’t Progress
Performative inclusion is usually easy to recognize. Typically rushed and short-term, it aims to hit immediate enrollment goals. It’s the health fair booth with no follow-up. The flyer mailed to a particular ZIP code promoting a trial. The commitment to representation in the annual report that never appears in protocols.
Transactional outreach may check a box or help fill a quota. But underrepresented communities know when they’re being pitched to rather than engaged. And transactional, last-minute “inclusion” efforts reinforce the very skepticism they’re meant to overcome.
Representation can’t be an afterthought.
Solid Ethics, Smart Business
Yes, investing in your partnerships to drive representation is the ethical thing to do, but it’s also good business. Health inequities cost the U.S. economy approximately $320 billion annually, according to a Deloitte analysis. That figure could exceed $1 trillion by 2040 if disparities remain unaddressed.
The Power of Co-Creation
Meaningful representation is built through co-creation and sustained engagement in healthcare. True partnership involves more than seeking approval of pre-designed campaigns. It requires developing campaigns alongside communities.
For pharmaceutical diversity partners, especially those in communities of color, collaboration must start at the design stage. Inclusion must be baked into the research process—not bolted on when recruitment falters. Listen before leading and stay involved even after enrollment ends.
Equity must rise to the level of business strategy and clinical design. As the Deloitte analysis noted, imposing solutions won’t solve disparities. What will? Designing solutions with the very communities affected by inequities.
Acclinate helps sponsors and CROs develop messaging, outreach strategies, and education materials that reflect the cultural realities of the populations they want to enroll. They don’t have to guess what will resonate; they have the data and the partners in place to inform the solutions.
Building Accountability in Clinical Trial Equity
Accountability means more than hitting enrollment targets or publishing diversity stats. With true accountability, sponsors and CROs share ownership of the process, stay engaged when things get tough, and are willing to quickly change course based on what the data show.
Unfortunately, many of those trying to recruit clinical research participants lack clear accountability goals. They have no meaningful benchmarks. So, unsurprisingly, equitable representation remains elusive.
With Acclinate’s platforms, organizations can move from passive data collection to active accountability. NOWINCLUDED captures community perspectives through stories, surveys, and peer engagement. e-DICT translates that data into action. Sponsors and CROs can track real-time engagement, make faster decisions, improve retention, and strengthen the credibility of their research.
Community-First Collaboration: RSV Trial
Simply showing up is no longer enough (if it ever was). Sponsors and CROs need to connect. Acclinate’s Affective Trust Framework emphasizes emotional connection and cultural relevance. Working alongside pharmaceutical diversity partners, Acclinate, through NOWINCLUDED, creates safe spaces for people to learn about health conditions and clinical research.
For example, a CRO worked with Acclinate to recruit diverse senior participants for an RSV trial. Representation was essential because RSV season tends to last longer in communities of color.
Acclinate mapped key communities, worked with trusted local leaders, and launched IRB-approved outreach. Within just two months, 82 individuals were screened and 27 non-White participants enrolled—nearly one-third of total enrollments.
Sustained Engagement in Healthcare
Pharmaceutical diversity partners can be invited as observers or as co-creators. Inviting people to sit at the table may fulfill a requirement, but it rarely builds trust. Active partnership is more than that proverbial “seat at the table.” No one wants to be asked to take a seat. Community partners want shared decision-making, long-term investments in community well-being, and they want collaborators they can trust.
With Acclinate’s help, CROs and sponsors can move from extractive outreach to evolving, measurable conversations, with insights from NOWINCLUDED and real-time tracking from e-DICT. And through co-created campaigns and localized relationships, they can turn inclusion into a foundation, not just a milestone.
Why Sustained Engagement in Healthcare Matters
Showing up isn’t enough. Neither the healthcare industry nor the pharmaceutical industry can afford performative inclusion. Underrepresentation leads to slower trials, weaker data, and deeper mistrust. True pharmaceutical diversity partners help co-design systems that are equitable by default—not by exception.
Without sustained engagement in healthcare, even the best recruitment campaigns risk missing the mark.
By combining real-time insights, community-focused strategies, and technology that fosters human connection, Acclinate’s model builds trust that outlasts a single study and drives accountability in clinical trial equity.
Ready to engage? Discover how Acclinate forges community partnerships to advance health equity. Schedule a 1:1 meeting with our team to learn more.
