FIND A CLINICAL TRIAL NEAR YOU:
Understanding and Finding a Clinical Trial
Clinical trials may help advance new treatments, increase disease knowledge or possibly lead to a cure. Remember that clinical trials may not provide direct medical benefits, but it is important to consider them when other treatment options have not been successful.
Benefits of a Clinical Trial
- You could get a new treatment for a disease before it is available to others
- You would play a more active role in your own health care
- You may receive more check-ups and medical attention as part of the trial
- You could help future patients get better treatment for their cancer
- You may be able to get information about support groups and other patient resources
Potential Risks of a Clinical Trial
- The new treatment may cause side effects or be uncomfortable
- The new treatment may not work, or it may not be better than the standard treatment
How are Clinical Trial Participants Protected?
(Cred. NIH website) This is a very important question. The history of clinical research is not perfect. Based on many years of experience and learning, Congress has passed laws to protect study participants. Today, every clinical investigator is required to monitor and make sure that every participant is safe. These safeguards are an essential part of the research. Research abuses like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, which began in 1932, before safeguards were in place, will NOT happen again.
Researchers are required to follow strict rules to make sure that participants are safe. These rules are enforced by the Federal Government. Each clinical trial also follows a careful study plan or protocol that describes what the researchers will do. The principal investigator, or head researcher, is responsible for making sure that the protocol is followed.
An Institutional Review Board, or IRB, at each study site, must approve every clinical trial in the United States. The IRB is made up of doctors, scientists, and laypeople, like yourself, who are dedicated to making sure that the study participants are not exposed to unnecessary risks. The people on the IRB regularly review the study and its results. They make sure that risks (or potential harm) to participants are as low as possible.
Along with the IRB, many clinical trials are closely supervised by a Data and Safety Monitoring Committee. The Committee is made up of experts in your condition who periodically look at the results of the study as it is in progress. If they find that the experimental treatment is not working or is harming participants, they will stop the trial right away.
The informed consent process also helps protect participants. Before joining a clinical trial, you will be told what to expect as a participant and all the things that might happen. For example, someone from the research team will explain possible side effects or other risks of the treatment. As part of the informed consent process, you will have a chance to ask questions about the trial.
After getting all this information, you can think about whether or not you want to participate. If you decide to join the trial, you will be given an informed consent form to sign. By signing the form, you show that you have been told all the details and want to be part of the study. The informed consent form is NOT a contract. You can leave the trial at any time and for any reason without being judged or put in a difficult position regarding your medical care. Researchers must keep health and personal information private.
Lung Cancer – About Clinical Trials
What are clinical trials?
Doctors and scientists are always looking for better ways to care for patients with lung cancer. To make scientific advances, doctors create research studies involving volunteers, called clinical trials. In fact, every drug that is now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was previously tested in clinical trials.
Many clinical trials are focused on new treatments, evaluating whether a new treatment is safe, effective, and possibly better than the current (standard) treatment. These studies evaluate new drugs and methods of treatment, new approaches to existing treatments, and new prevention methods. Patients who participate in clinical trials are often among the first to receive new treatments before they are widely available. However, there is no guarantee that the new treatment will be safe, effective, or better than a standard treatment.
There are also clinical trials that study new ways to ease symptoms and side effects during treatment and manage the late effects that may occur after treatment. Talk with your doctor about clinical trials regarding side effects. In addition, there are ongoing studies about ways to prevent the disease.
Deciding to join a clinical trial
Patients decide to participate in clinical trials for many reasons. For some patients, a clinical trial is the best treatment option available. Because standard treatments are not perfect, patients are willing to face the added uncertainty of a clinical trial in the hope of a better result. Other patients volunteer for clinical trials because they know that these studies are the only way to make progress in treating lung cancer. Even if they do not benefit directly from the clinical trial, their participation may benefit future patients with lung cancer.
Sometimes people have concerns that, in a clinical trial, they may receive no treatment by being given a placebo or a “sugar pill.” However, placebos are usually combined with standard treatment in most cancer clinical trials. When a placebo is used in a study, it is done with the full knowledge of the participants. Find out more about placebos in cancer clinical trials.
Patient safety and informed consent
To join a clinical trial, patients must participate in a process known as informed consent. During informed consent, the doctor will list all of the patient’s options so that the person understands how the new treatment differs from the standard treatment. The doctor must also explain all of the risks of the new treatment, which may or may not be different from the risks of standard treatment. Finally, the doctor must detail what will be required of each patient in order to participate in the clinical trial, including the number of doctor visits, tests, and the schedule of treatment.
Patients who participate in a clinical trial may stop participating at any time for any personal or medical reason. This may include that the new treatment is not working or there are serious side effects. Clinical trials are also closely monitored by experts who watch for any problems with each study. It is important that patients participating in a clinical trial talk with their doctor and researchers about who will be providing their treatment and care during the clinical trial, after the clinical trial ends, and/or if the patient chooses to leave the clinical trial before it ends.
Research through clinical trials is ongoing for all types of cancer. For specific topics being studied for NSCLC, learn more in the Latest Research section.
Cancer.Net offers a lot of information about cancer clinical trials in other areas of the website, including a complete section on clinical trials and places to search for clinical trials for a specific type of cancer.
In addition, this website offers free access to a video-based educational program about cancer clinical trials, located outside of this guide.
Source: www.cancer.net