The drug store giant Walgreens (Nasdaq:WBA) has launched a clinical trial business aimed at optimizing patient experience, recruitment and clinical trial diversity.
Deerfield, Illinois–headquartered Walgreens will offer both in-person and virtual care clinical trial options.
In a press release, Walgreens underscored FDA’s push to improve racial and ethnic diversity in clinical studies. In 2020, three-fourths of clinical trial volunteers were white, and only 11% were Hispanic, while fewer than 10% were Black and Asian, according to FDA.
Walgreens intends to use pharmacy and patient-authorized clinical data to match diverse patient populations to clinical trials in an array of disease areas using race, gender, socioeconomic status and location data.
Walgreens also promises to help drug developers improve patient recruitment and enrollment in clinical trials. The company operates almost 9,000 stores. More than half of them are based in socially vulne…