FAQs

All clinical trials have guidelines about who can participate. Before joining a clinical trial, a volunteer must qualify for the study. The factors that allow volunteers to participate in a clinical trial are called, inclusion criteria, and the factors that disallow volunteers from participating are called, exclusion criteria. These criteria can include age, gender, the type and stage of a disease, previous treatment history, and/or other medical conditions.

Some research studies seek participants with specific illnesses or conditions to be studied within a clinical trial, while others require healthy participants. It is important to note that inclusion and exclusion criteria are used to identify appropriate participants, promote participants' safety, and ensure that researchers learn the information they need to.

In a clinical trial, a volunteer is usually assigned a specific study group. Volunteers in one group may receive an investigational treatment or study drug while other volunteers may receive a placebo or a treatment already available.

A placebo is an inactive product used to assess the experimental treatment's effectiveness. The participant, physician, and research staff may not know which volunteers receive a placebo and which receive the active treatment. Not knowing which participants are receiving the active treatment allows the physicians and research staff to objectively observe the volunteers throughout the study. Regardless of which treatment the volunteers receive, the level of medical attention and care that each volunteer receives is the same.

Patients considering participating in a clinical trial should talk about it with their physicians and medical caregivers. Potential volunteers should also understand the credentials and experience of the staff and the facility involved in conducting the study.

Questions to ask a physician or medical caregiver:

• How long will the trial last?
• Where is the trial conducted?
• What treatments will be used and how will they be used?
• What is the main purpose of the trial?
• How will patient safety be monitored?
• Are there any risks involved with the trial?
• What are the possible benefits?
• What are the alternative treatments, besides the ones being tested in the trial?
• Who is sponsoring the trial?
• Do I have to pay for any aspect of the trial?
• What happens if I am harmed during the trial?
• Can I opt to remain on this treatment, even after the termination of the trial?

In some studies, participants receive a physical examination and their medical histories are reviewed by either the study physician or a research staff member once they are enrolled in the study. The volunteers health will continue to be monitored during and after the trial. A detailed description of what is expected of the volunteers will be outlined in the consent forms along with specific clinical trial information.

Volunteers in a clinical trial participate in the development of medical therapies that may offer better treatments or cures for life-threatening and chronic diseases. There are risks involved but participants can leave a trial at any time.

Possible benefits for volunteers:

• Volunteers play an active role in their health care.
• Volunteers gain access to research treatments before they are widely available.
• Volunteers obtain medical care at health care facilities during the trial.
• Volunteers help others by contributing to medical research.

Possible risks for volunteers:

• There may be unpleasant, serious, or even life-threatening side effects to experimental treatment.
• The experimental treatment may not be effective.
• The protocol may require more time and attention than a non-protocol treatment, including trips to the study site, more treatments, hospital stays, and/or complex dosage requirements.

Access to personal information is usually available to the investigator and research team conducting the clinical trial. In some circumstances, the IRB overseeing the research and the sponsor will also have access to personal information. This process and information is explained more specifically in the consent form that the participating volunteers are asked to sign. As a clinical trial progresses, researchers report the aggregate results of the trial at scientific meetings, to medical journals, and various government agencies.

After a study phase is completed, the data is collected to determine the drug's effectiveness, if it is safe, and if there are any side effects. Depending on the results, researchers then determine whether to stop testing or move to the next phase of the study. After phase III of a study is complete, researchers decide if the results are medically important and may submit them to journals for peer review. Data then may be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval.

If a drug is approved, pharmaceutical companies may continue to conduct studies that compare the new drug—in terms of its safety, effectiveness, and cost—to other drugs already on the market.