The Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee advises the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about medications for the treatment of cancer. The committee's meeting agenda typically includes presentations by both a company seeking marketing approval for an oncologic drug that it sponsors and by the FDA, as well as a public hearing for comments by other speakers. Speakers may be patients with cancer or may represent patient advocacy organizations, and speakers are asked to disclose financial associations with the sponsoring company or other relevant financial associations. Prior research has examined the characteristics of decisions by the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee 1 and financial conflict of interest disclosures and voting patterns at FDA drug advisory committee meetings. 2 We studied the characteristics and financial associations of public speakers at meetings of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee.
from work, child care, and transportation could also improve access to clinical trials for lower-income patients. Future research should investigate how to overcome financial barriers to clinical trial participation. The identification of patient income level as an independent predictor of trial participation is important for multiple reasons. If income is associated with health status, then improving representativeness of lower-income patients in trials would improve the generalizability of study outcomes. Also, greater participation of lower-income patients would allow trials to be conducted more quickly, speeding the development of new treatments. Crucially, since clinical trial treatments represent the newest available treatments, access to this vital resource should be available to individuals of all income levels.
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