Fifteen years ago, at the age of 42, Israel Robledo was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Shocked, he spent the next nine months coming to terms with his diagnosis. “I was married. I had three girls at home. I was working as a schoolteacher. And I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, my life is over,'” he says. “I only knew about older people having Parkinson’s.”
But, after that first nine months, Robledo realized that being a victim didn’t suit him. So, he decided to be proactive and became a patient advocate for those with Parkinson’s disease, working to ensure transparency and diversity in clinical research. Robledo, who is Hispanic, is one of 18 members from underrepresented communities offering their experience to biotechnology company Biogen.
Community Feedback
The Community Advisory Board (CAB) was established to serve as a bridge between Biogen team members and communities that have encountered a lack of education, awareness and access to clinical trials. This includes those who identify as Black or African American and Hispanic and/or Latino, and it has recently expanded to include Native Americans, Indigenous People, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Further compounding these issues is the distrust of clinical trials due to historical events and injustices.
“Let’s face it, pharmaceutical companies don’t have the best reputation,” Robledo observes. “But Biogen is building trust. They realize people of different races and ethnicities react differently to medical issues and to clinical trials.”
The Board was set up in partnership with the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP), a nonprofit dedicated to educating patients and the public on clinical research participation.
The CAB’s role is two-fold: Help inform Biogen team members on issues regarding race, ethnicity, associated health disparities and awareness initiatives, as well as help Biogen to better communicate with underrepresented communities on points of concern and barriers to accessing clinical trials.
“In forming a Community Advisory Board that is really diverse in membership – representing not just different races and communities, but also individuals who identify with living with conditions and disease areas that Biogen researches – we have the opportunity to listen and learn,” explains Kate Wilson, Biogen’s Head of Health Equity in the Patient Engagement, Equity and Transparency team.
Clear Messaging
Through ongoing conversations on messaging, tone and images, Biogen and CAB members have worked together to create honest and transparent communications geared toward underrepresented communities, their healthcare practitioners and their caregivers. “CAB members were co-developers of these materials,” notes Wilson. “They had seats at the table, and had direct input and feedback. That is how we built our messaging.”
CAB members have provided hundreds of points of feedback on sharing information to patients, ranging from trial descriptions to logistics (such as whether a patient is reimbursed for their travel expenses or paid for their time) to whether a person needs to reveal their immigration status – a real concern for many people and something that Biogen now addresses in its assets. “In all of our materials, we make sure that patients know that information about immigration status will not be collected in any Biogen clinical trial,” says Wilson.
Robledo credits the company for its approach of making direct, immediate changes to communication materials based on CAB members’ input. “I’ve been a patient advocate with many pharmaceutical companies, but none have been like Biogen,” he says. “When other companies ask for patient input, they say, ‘This is what we’ve done. Tell us if you like it or not.’ But Biogen says, ‘Tell us what we need to change so that it impacts the patient community the way it needs to.'”
The final products are, as Robledo says, “pretty darn good. I take pride in saying these materials are something that we came up with. Providing a voice is why I became a patient advocate.”
Looking to the Future
The CAB and Biogen’s work towards building diversity, equity and inclusion into its clinical research is garnering industry attention, winning the 2021 Global Pharma Patient Champion Award. And Biogen’s recent addition of voices from other underrepresented communities points toward its continued efforts to better understand the needs and challenges among various populations. The end goal: to better develop potential medicines that are safe and effective for all.
“It’s our way of ensuring that a diverse voice is heard and built into our clinical development and the way we approach drug development,” Wilson says. “When we look at the work ahead of us to really improve representation in our clinical trials, it’s so critical that we’re involving the diverse communities and voices in that process.”
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