In August 2014, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released an action plan (link opens as a PDF) aimed at encouraging more diverse patient participation in drug and medical device clinical trials. The Action Plan to Enhance the Collection and Availability of Demographic Subgroup Data includes 27 responsive and pragmatic actions, divided into 3 overarching priorities:

• Data quality: improving the completeness and quality of demographic subgroup data collection, reporting, and analysis
• Participation: identifying barriers to subgroup enrollment in clinical trials and employing strategies to encourage greater participation
• Transparency: making demographic subgroup data more available and transparent

The plan follows an August 2013 report to Congress on these concerns and reflects the agency’s commitment to encouraging the inclusion of a diverse patient population (with reference to sex, age, race, and ethnicity) in biomedical research that supports applications for FDA-regulated medical products. Increasing representation is a multifaceted challenge that requires a multifaceted approach and collaboration of federal partners, industry, healthcare providers, patients and patient advocacy groups, academicians, and community groups.

A message from the Commissioner of the FDA contains background and details.