What is a clinical trial?
- Clinical Trials Overview: clinical trials are research studies designed to test new methods for detecting, preventing, managing, and treating cancer.
- Purpose: clinical trials help doctors assess the safety, effectiveness, and potential benefits of new treatments compared to existing ones.
- Importance: clinical trials are key to advancing cancer care, but some people are unaware or hesitant to participate or maybe have fears or negative beliefs grounded in past realities.
- Ethical Oversight: Federal regulations however ensure clinical trials are conducted ethically. Extensive lab testing (often several years) is completed before use in humans and there are strict guidelines surrounding clinical trials.
- Contribution to Cancer Care: Participating in clinical trials helps expand scientific knowledge and improve future cancer treatments; many current treatments used today are the result of past clinical trials, making them an essential part of the ongoing fight against cancer.
Clinical Trials are an option to cancer care. As a potential participant being willing to listen, learn, and understand what clinical trials are and how they work can help you decide if taking part in a trial is a good option for you.
Learn about efforts to make clinical trials accessible to everyone.