Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2026
08:39
Culture of Bladder Cancer Organoids as Precision Medicine Tools
Published on: December 28, 2021
Evaluating Worldwide Disparities in Bladder Cancer Clinical Trial Availability.
Koral U Shah1, Daniela V Castro1, Xiaochen Li1
1Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, CA 91010, USA.
Cancers
|June 12, 2026
Summary
Bladder cancer clinical trials are concentrated in high-income countries, limiting global diversity and equitable care. Mixed-income trials improve access but require balanced sponsorship and local benefits for non-high-income nations.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Clinical Trials
- Global Health Equity
Background:
- Bladder cancer disproportionately impacts non-high-income countries (non-HICs).
- Clinical trials for bladder cancer often underrepresent global diversity.
- Significant barriers exist to equitable bladder cancer care worldwide.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the global availability of bladder cancer clinical trials.
- To evaluate trial alignment with bladder cancer disease burden across income levels.
- To identify barriers hindering equitable access to bladder cancer research.
Main Methods:
- Searched ClinicalTrials.gov for adult bladder cancer trials (June 2019-June 2024).
- Classified countries by World Bank income levels (HICs, UMICs, LMICs, LICs).
- Analyzed trial characteristics, sponsorship, and geographic distribution using statistical tests and regression models.
Main Results:
- 75.1% of bladder cancer trials were HIC-only; only 16.9% were non-HIC.
- Non-HIC trials had less funding, lower enrollment, and fewer multinational collaborations.
- Trial availability correlated positively with national income and health expenditure, absent in LICs.
Conclusions:
- Bladder cancer clinical trials are heavily concentrated in high-income countries.
- Mixed-income trials enhance non-HIC access but are HIC-led, needing balanced sponsorship.
- Addressing disparities requires improved early-phase research and sustainable local benefits in non-HICs.
Related Concept Videos
01:11Clinical Trials: Overview
Clinical development focuses on how the drug will interact with the human body and encompasses four key phases of clinical trials, each serving a specific purpose in assessing the safety and effectiveness of new drugs. These phases overlap and build upon one another. Phase I involves a small group of healthy volunteers (typically 20-80 individuals) or, in cases where significant toxicity is expected, patients with the targeted disease, such as cancer or AIDS. The volunteers are tested for...
01:12Hazard Ratio
The hazard ratio (HR) is a widely used measure in clinical trials to compare the risk of events, such as death or disease recurrence, between two groups over time. It reflects the ratio of hazard rates—the instantaneous risk of the event occurring—between a treatment group and a control group. This measure provides valuable insights into the relative effectiveness of a treatment by assessing how the risk of an event differs between the two groups.
For example, in a clinical trial evaluating a...
For example, in a clinical trial evaluating a...