GOP Pushes FDA to Shield Clinical Trial Diversity
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- HHS began purging all references to DEI from its agencies' websites days after Trump took office, with the effort targeting hiring practices, communications, and social issues.
- GOP lawmakers are pushing the FDA to carve clinical trial diversity out of the broader DEI rollback, arguing the two are not the same policy.
- Supporters of clinical trial diversity say the policy ensures trials enroll people representative of the patients who would use the drugs and medical devices being tested, not workforce or social programming.
- The Trump administration's DEI purge at HHS agencies swept up clinical trial policy alongside other diversity-related content, prompting the congressional pushback.
Why it matters: Clinical trial enrollment requirements shape whether drugs and devices are tested on populations that mirror future users. If the FDA treats trial diversity as interchangeable with hiring-focused DEI, drug developers lose a regulatory anchor for representative enrollment, potentially skewing safety and efficacy data toward majority populations.
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