What Should I Consider and Know Before Participating in a Clinical Trial?

Why Should I Consider Participating in a Clinical Trial? What Should I Know If

I Am Thinking about Participating?

Clinical trials are clinical research that are the heart of all medical advances. Clinical trials discover new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease.

Treatments might be new medications or combinations of medications, new surgical devices or procedures, or new ways to use existing treatments.

The goal of clinical trials is to determine if a new treatment or test works and is safe. Clinical trials can also involve other aspects of care, such as improving the quality of life for individuals with chronic illnesses.

People participate in clinical trials for a variety of reasons. Healthy volunteers say they participate in the desire to help others and to contribute to advances in science. Participants with disease or illness also volunteer to help others, but also to receive the newest treatments, additional care, and additional attention.

Clinical trials offer hope for many people and the opportunity to be a part of the research that will better the lives of others in the future.