Participation in clinical trials

Should I participate in a clinical trial?

There are advantages and disadvantages to taking part in a clinical trial.

Advantages - you will be cared for by doctors who are familiar with the latest information about treatment and you will be monitored very closely. If the treatment being tested is beneficial you could be one of the first to benefit from it. Particularly if you are not responding well to the current therapies, a clinical trial might give you access to an alternative that will work better.

Disadvantages - new drugs and procedures can have unexpected side effects or prove to be less effective than the existing procedures, and even if the procedure works well for many patients, it may not work well for you. The careful monitoring required in a trial can mean more visits to the hospital and more testing than would be necessary outside of a trial, and this may prove disruptive to your life.

As with all issues regarding health and medical care, the decision to take part in a clinical trial should be reviewed carefully and discussed in detail with your doctor. It is important to learn as much as possible about the specific treatments under investigation and how appropriate these are to your particular case. You should be prepared to ask your doctor about the possible risks and the possible benefits that you may get from the treatments being offered in the trial.

It should be remembered that in most trials the different treatments are allocated randomly to the patients who enroll and neither you nor your doctor can choose which one you receive. Furthermore, most trials are also conducted ‘blind’ and neither you nor your doctor will know which of the treatments you are receiving until the end of the trial. If, at the end of the trial one treatment is found to be better than another, the opportunity to move onto the better treatment may be discussed with you, if it was not the treatment that you were receiving during the trial.

Can I change my mind after I have enrolled in a clinical trial?

You will never be enrolled in a clinical trial without being asked first and also having given written consent to take part. However, you can, for any reason, decide not to continue to take part in the trial and your doctor will then offer you the existing treatment for your particular condition.

You can withdraw from a clinical trial, without explanation, at any time.