Clinical Trials in Canada
New treatments are tested in clinical trials before they are approved for general use. There are safeguards in place to ensure clinical trials are as safe as possible and meet medical ethical standards. Participating in a trial can be a way to have access to potentially helpful new therapies you couldn’t get any other way.
Clinical trials are funded by pharmaceuticals evaluating their new treatments. Therefore, the treatments, tests, and doctor visits are usually paid for and patients are followed very carefully. Clinical trials usually have very specific criteria for the patients who can participate, such as severity or stage of disease and whether and what types of previous treatments you have had.
If you are found to be eligible, most studies will not allow you to choose whether you will be put into the group of patients given the existing standard treatment or the group receiving the new medicine. Often, neither you nor your doctor will be told which treatment you are receiving.
This randomization of what you are assigned to, and blinding of you and your doctor to the treatment you are getting, is an important part of ensuring clinical trials are as free from bias as possible and therefore, ensures the results are as clear as possible.
If you are interested in participating in a clinical trial, ask your doctor if there are any appropriate studies available to you.