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WASHINGTON — Clinical trials that the National Institutes of Health funds often enroll fewer Black patients and other underrepresented racial groups than they plan to, according to a study of 30 NIH-funded trials sampled by the HHS Office of Inspector General.

Policymakers want to get researchers to enroll a racially representative sample of patients in clinical trials that test whether products work and are safe. But researchers often fail to do so.

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The OIG findings are in line with other studies from outside the government, according to William Fitzsimmons, a founder of the CARER Group, which is pushing to improve trial diversity. However, those studies looked at clinical trials funded by drug and medical device companies.

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