“You have to find out why she’s saying no,” said Dr. Theodora Omene, addressing how to handle clinical trial declinations from Black patients on an episode of The Moonlight Shift.
The discussion highlighted that medical mistrust among Black patients stems from concrete generational memory rather than abstract hesitation. Omene explained that families remember what the healthcare system did in the past and decide not to trust it. Breaking through this barrier requires time, family conversations, and an honest accounting of medical history.
The episode featured a segment called Progress or Promise, where Omene evaluated current breast cancer science and community outreach efforts. She categorized antibody-drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies, and the iSPY 2 platform as progress. Conversely, she labeled the medical field’s response to medical mistrust in the Black community, diversity requirements in clinical trials, and the prospect of equal outcomes for Black women with triple-negative breast cancer in 10 years as promise.
iSPY 2.2 Trial Data
Recent clinical data presented at the 2026 ASCO Annual Meeting offered tangible results for researchers. Data from the iSPY 2.2 trial showed that rilvetgostamig combined with fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki produced a 57% pathologic complete response rate in the hormone receptor–positive/immune-positive signature.
This outcome exceeded the platform benchmarks while sparing patients from anthracycline-containing regimens. Patients with residual disease in Block B achieved complete responses at rates above 90%. Omene said that the trial population mirrored national demographics across racial and ethnic groups, ensuring the data applies to a diverse patient population.
Community Outreach Initiatives
A grant from the V Foundation funded an approach including patient guidance, educational materials for Black women, and a town hall series. Omene runs these town halls alongside patient advocate Dara Reed to let community members ask questions directly about clinical trials and data relevance.
These sessions produced a measurable uptick in enrollment and continue. “We have all these advancements,” Omene said, “but there are still populations that are significantly doing less in terms of survival than everyone else.”