USA — Gilead Sciences, Inc. has awarded US$7.6 million in grant funding to 24 U.S.-based, community organizations through the newly created Toward Health Equity (THE) Oncology Grant.
The funding will support evidence-based interventions that address barriers to care and social determinants of health including patient navigator training, cultural competency training, and services combating barriers such as transportation.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, but due to social, environmental, and economic disparities, people of color are at increased risk of developing or dying from the disease.
The 2023 funding will support evidence-based interventions that focus on patient navigation and digital/mobile interventions to improve health equity.
All 2023 grantees were chosen based on several criteria including their ability to create measurable and sustainable change toward health equity.
THE Oncology Grant builds on Gilead’s 2022 program, which provided US$5.7 million in grants to 21 U.S. organizations for programs working to advance health equity for Black people impacted by triple-negative breast cancer.
The new grantees serve historically neglected and underrepresented communities including Hispanic, Jewish, LGBTQIA, Indigenous American, and others, and will work to address access disparities in the treatment of breast cancer.
The 2023 THE Oncology Grant awardees include: Asociación Latina De Asistencia Y Prevención Del Cáncer De Mama, Association of Community Cancer Centers, Coalition of Blacks Against Breast Cancer and, Family Reach Foundation.
Others include Franklin Square Hospital Center, Inc., George Washington University, Harris County Hospital District Foundation, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation, Nueva Vida Inc., Patient Advocate Foundation Inc., and Shanti Project Inc., among others.
Further to that, Gilead Sciences, Inc. recently announce that the company’s Board of Directors has declared an increase of 2.7% in the company’s quarterly cash dividend, beginning in the first quarter of 2023.
The increase will result in a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share of common stock. The dividend is payable on March 30, 2023, to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 15, 2023. Future dividends will be subject to Board approval.
In the same breath of ensuring health equity, Amgen has committed to contribute US$8 million to the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program (Winn Award Program), established by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation (BMSF) over the next four years.
The contribution will enable the program to reach additional physicians and medical students, further expanding the initiative that aims to extend the reach of clinical trials in underserved patient populations in US communities.
According to the Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials Award Program, 80% of individuals involved in clinical trials are white, compared to 58% in the U.S. population as a whole, which negatively affects the care that people of color receive.
Studies estimate that Black Americans make up about 8% of participants in clinical trials but represent 13% of the U.S. population, and Hispanics account for 11% in trials, even though they are 16% of the national population.
The Food and Drug Administration released additional guidance in 2022 to increase diversity in clinical trials and recommended that all trials submit a Race and Ethnicity Diversity Plan in the early phases of their clinical development.
The Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation (BMSF) pledged US$100 million to support 250 Winn Career Development Awards (Winn CDAs) and 250 Winn Clinical Investigator Pathway Programs (Winn CIPPs) over the span of the program.
In 2022, Gilead Sciences committed US$14 million of support, including 10 Winn CDAs and 10 Winn CIPPs per year for four years.
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