EAST HANOVER, N.J.,
Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/
-- Today the Novartis US Foundation announced a total
commitment of USD 25 million to
develop partnerships and fund community organizations and programs
that address health inequities, with a focus on diversity in
clinical trials, in the United
States. This commitment reinforces the Novartis US
Foundation mission to improve health in underserved communities in
the United States by creating
innovative and sustainable solutions to expand access to healthcare
and build trust within the healthcare system.
"In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and heightened attention
on racial injustice in the US, there has been new and significant
recognition of disparities in care in minority communities. We have
accelerated our commitment to create innovative and sustainable
partnerships that have the potential to improve health equity in
underserved communities, including African American/Black and
Hispanic communities," said Tom
Kendris, US Country President, Novartis Corporation, Chairman, Board of
Trustees, Novartis US Foundation.
Since re-focusing its mission last year, the Novartis US
Foundation has committed more than USD 10
million to develop partnerships to enable healthcare systems
to better meet the needs of their patients by addressing barriers
to care, or by identifying changes needed to address the underlying
causes of health disparities. This support included signature
partnerships with New Jersey Primary Care Association, The CDC
Foundation, Institute for Healthcare Improvement and USD 5 million to support COVID-19 response
efforts, including 40 grants to support local communities.
A key area of focus for the additional commitment will be in
addressing the vast underrepresentation of minorities, including
Black Americans, in clinical trials. In 2019, African
Americans/Blacks made up 13.5% of the US population, but only 9% of
clinical trial participants1,2. Diversity in clinical
trials is critical to understanding how medicines will work in all
patient populations impacted by the disease.
"We believe the Novartis US Foundation can serve as a catalyst
for change through a multi-year, multi-million dollar commitment.
As part of this effort, we will collaborate with partners and
support industry-wide programs to improve diversity in clinical
trials through systemic and policy-driven solutions that go beyond
calls to study sponsors to be more inclusive," continued
Kendris.
There are several barriers to clinical trial participation
reflective of other systemic issues leading to disparities in
health such as, mistrust of the healthcare system, a lack of
comfort or understanding of health systems, including clinical
trial processes, as well as time and resource constraints
associated with participation3. The US Foundation is in
the exploration phase to identify all dimensions of these issues
and to identify new collaborators from the public, private and
advocacy sectors.
About Social Determinants of Health and Health
Disparities
CDC defines social determinants of health as
the conditions – social, economic and physical – in places where
people live, learn, work and play that influence health outcomes of
people2. These conditions may include safe and
affordable housing, access to education, food security, and clean
environments2. When health outcomes are better or worse
from one population to the next, there is disparity. Health
disparities have impacts reaching far beyond those directly
affected by limiting advancements in care and resulting in
avoidable costs3. For example, the American Public
Health Association found racial disparities in health led to an
estimated $93 billion in excess
medical care costs and $42 billion in
lost productivity4.
About the Novartis US Foundation
The Novartis US
Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation established by
Novartis to support philanthropic efforts in the United States. The
mission of the Novartis US Foundation is to improve health in
underserved communities in the United States by creating innovative
and sustainable solutions to expand access to healthcare and build
trust within the healthcare system. We do this by supporting
sustainable programs and partnerships that strengthen health
systems, eliminate barriers to quality health services, and enhance
local communities.
About Novartis
Located in East Hanover, NJ Novartis Pharmaceuticals
Corporation – an affiliate of Novartis – is reimagining medicine to
improve and extend people's lives. As a leading global medicines
company, we use innovative science and digital technologies to
create transformative treatments in areas of great medical need. In
our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the
world's top companies investing in research and development.
Novartis employs about 15,000 people in the United States. For more information,
please visit https://www.novartis.us.
Novartis and Novartis US is on Twitter. Sign up to follow
@Novartis at https://twitter.com/novartisnews
and @NovartisUS at https://twitter.com/NovartisUS.
For Novartis multimedia content, please visit
https://www.novartis.com/news/media-library
For
questions about the site or required registration, please contact
media.relations@novartis.com.
References
- US Food and Drug Administration. 2019 Drug Trials Snapshots
Summary Report. Available at:
https://www.fda.gov/media/135337/download. Accessed August 27, 2020.
- US Census Bureau. Quick Facts. Available at:
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI225219. Accessed
August 27, 2020.
- Clark, LT, Watkins, L, Pina, IL, et al. Increasing Diversity in
Clinical Trials. Current Problems in Cardiology. 2019;
44(5):148-175.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Social Determinants
of Health: Know What Affects Health. Available at:
https://www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/index.htm. Accessed
August 20, 2020.
- Turner, A. The Business Case for Racial Equity. WK Kellogg
Foundation. Available at:
http://ww2.wkkf.org/2018/bcfre/BCRE-National-Report.pdf, Accessed
February 13, 2020.
- American Public Health Association. Health Equity. Available
at: https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/health-equity. Accessed
February 13, 2020.
# # #
Novartis Media
Relations
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E-mail:
media.relations@novartis.com
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Eric
Althoff
Head, US Corp &
Country External Comms,
Global Media & Corp Communications
+1 646 438
4335
eric.althoff@novartis.com
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Jamie
Bennett
Director, US Media
Relations
+1 862 217
3976
jamie.bennett@novartis.com
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SOURCE Novartis US Corporate