This is a decision that is best made after consulting with your family and physician. Clearly, a clinical trial is the right choice for some patients and the wrong choice for others. Below are some factors you should consider and discuss with your family and physician before taking part in a clinical trial:
Pros
- Clinical trials typically provide patients with comprehensive medical care.
- If you receive the new treatment being tested, it’s possible you may benefit from it.
- Through your participation you have the opportunity to help others, advance medical progress and improve current treatments and therapies.
Cons
- New treatments don’t always work. They may be no better than the current standard of care. And in some cases side effects may be significant or unanticipated.
- Even when a new treatment works for many patients in the clinical trial, it may not work for you.
- If you are in the control group and receive the standard treatment, it too may not work for you.
- Close and frequent monitoring is often required. Your health insurance may not pay all your costs to take part in the study. Find out if the sponsors of the trial will pay any additional costs (travel expenses, food) you may incur.