Eleven Things to Know about Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials
- Clinical trials are research studies that involve people. Each study tries to answer scientific questions and to find better ways to prevent, diagnose or treat cancer.
- In cancer research a clinical trial is designed to show how a particular anticancer strategy -- for instance, a promising drug, a gene therapy treatment, a new diagnostic test, or a possible way to prevent cancer -- affects the people who receive it. See Taking Part in Clinical Trials: Cancer Prevention Studies.
- A clinical trial is one of the stages of a long and careful cancer research process. Getting promising results from testing a new drug on mice, for example, is a preliminary step to human research studies. Treatments that work well in mice do not always work well in people.
- There are two types of prevention clinical trials that study ways of reducing the risk of getting cancer:
- Action studies (doing something) - These focus on finding out whether actions people take, such as exercising more or quitting smoking, can prevent cancer.
- Agent studies (taking something) - These studies examine whether taking certain medicines, vitamins or food supplements (or a combination) can prevent cancer.
- In the agent prevention trials, people take medicines, vitamins, minerals or other supplements that researchers believe may lower the risk of a certain type of cancer. Health professionals who conduct these studies want to learn:
- How safe is it to take the medicine or supplement?
- Does the medicine or supplement prevent cancer?
- How can people learn about the possible pros and cons of participating in a prevention trial? Through a process called informed consent you will learn what agent(s) the study will test and how, and possible benefits and risks, before deciding whether or not to participate.
- Who's eligible to participate in a prevention clinical trial? Each study has its own guidelines for who can participate. Generally, participants are alike in key ways - such as age, gender, whether or not participants are at increased risk of a certain type of cancer, and other factors.
- What do prevention trials test? Many prevention trials are designed to compare a promising new agent with a standard one or to no agent. In these studies patients are randomly assigned to one group or another.
- Do some people receive a placebo in prevention clinical trials? People assigned to a group receiving "no agent" take a look-alike pill that contains no active ingredient, called a placebo. Remember that participants in prevention clinical trials do not have cancer. In treatment clinical trials -- designed to compare a new treatment for a certain type of cancer with a standard treatment -- placebos are very rarely used.
- Where do clinical trials take place? They are underway all over the country - in cancer centers, other major medical centers, community hospitals and clinics, physicians' offices and veterans' and military hospitals in numerous cities and towns around the United States.
- Who pays for the participant costs on prevention clinical trials? The coverage of costs varies, and so it is important to ask a doctor, nurse or a staff member from the study to help you determine in advance what costs must be covered by you or your health plan.
Back to Clinical Trials.