Why Join a Clinical Trial?

By joining a clinical trial, volunteers help provide medical knowledge that may help others. A clinical trial also offers potential benefits to participants, as well as potential risks. Before deciding whether to participate in a clinical trial, it is important to learn exactly what those risks and benefits will be.

Volunteers are often paid to participate in clinical trials. The amount depends on the amount of time volunteers must commit to the study. It also depends on whether the study will be uncomfortable and whether it will pose any risk.

Clinical trials may offer other benefits as well. A clinical trial studying a particular medical condition will often offer participants access to a promising new medical treatment that isn’t yet available elsewhere. In some cases, the trial treatment may be more effective than the current standard treatment a patient would receive.

Study participants also have access to medical attention from the research team, who are often experts in their field. They may receive study medication, medical care, evaluations, and disease-related education at reduced or no cost.

On the other hand, the new treatment offered in a trial is not always better than standard care and new treatments sometimes have unexpected side effects. Some clinical trials are randomized; that is, one group of patients receives the experimental treatment while another group receives the standard type of treatment.

In randomized clinical trials, patients are not able to choose which treatment they receive. Clinical trial volunteers may also have to commit more time to doctor visits and assessments than if they chose not to participate. Benefits and risks vary from trial to trial, so it’s important to find out the details of a particular study before deciding whether to participate.