A systematic analysis of medicine information pertaining to race and ethnicity terms for 100 top selling medicines in the USA.

Abstract

Objectives: The primary objective of the study focused on the analysis of the terminology used to describe race and/or ethnicity in package inserts for the 100 top-selling medicines in 2021 and to the evaluation of this data based on overall terminology use frequency, terminology use frequency by medication class, and frequency of terminology appearance under specific insert headings.

Methods: Data collection involved reviewing package inserts for 100 top-selling medicines approved in the USA starting with the top 10 medicines followed by the remaining 90 medicines on the list. For the initial 10 medicines, a sample package insert was obtained from the DailyMed website, a resource supported by the US National Library of Medicine and analyzed for the explicit use of race or ethnicity terminology. Identified terms were coded and a list of relevant terms was compiled. A sample package insert for each of the other 90 medicines was analyzed using the list of relevant terminology. A final list to represent the use and quantification of race and ethnicity terminology was compiled.

Key findings: This qualitative study revealed that some of the terminology in US medicine information labeling is not consistent with the current wording recommended in FDA guidance for race and ethnicity data collection during clinical trials and other studies. Another finding of this analysis is variation in the frequency of use of race and ethnicity terminology relative to the medicine category and sections of the package insert.

Conclusions: Healthcare providers must be cautious when evaluating package inserts, especially race/ethnicity-related terminology that may not reflect current medicine development requirements or when changes occur to tools previously influenced by information used in clinical trials.