What You Should Know About Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are research studies in which people volunteer to test new treatments, interventions, or tests as a means to prevent, detect, treat or manage various diseases and conditions. They greatly benefit society by identifying new, more effective, and safe treatments. Unfortunately, research has shown that clinical trials are under-enrolled and difficult to fill.
CHAMP has partnered with Antidote to provide you a series of easy-to-understand materials on clinical trials, which we believe will help lead to increased clinical trial enrollment and participation in the headache disease community. Please click each section below to learn more and determine if a clinical trial may be right for you.
Part 01: What are clinical trials?
A clinical trial is a research study that tests whether a new potential therapy is safe and effective for patients. It evaluates new drugs, behaviors, or devices, and reveals whether these potential therapies work for particular diseases or particular groups of patients. They can provide the best available data for the approval of new disease treatments.
There are two main types of clinical trials: interventional studies and observational studies.
Part 02: What are the phases of a clinical trial?
Clinical trials test whether potential new treatments are safe and effective for patients through carefully-designed research studies.
In order for a new treatment to reach patients, it must successfully pass several clinical trial phases, which involve increasing numbers of participants for each stage. New treatments can’t be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) without volunteers taking part.
Part 03: Why join a clinical trial?
It’s a big decision to take part in a clinical trial, and it’s important that patients and caregivers fully understand all of the benefits and risks before enrolling.
There are many reasons that people choose to volunteer for clinical research, but it’s important to weigh these against potential risks. Read more about some of the top benefits of taking part in the research.
Part 04: Headache disease and clinical trial FAQs
We answered some common questions about participating in headache disease research.
Part 05: What should I expect in a clinical trial?
After you’ve expressed interest in a clinical trial by contacting the trial team or filling out a pre-screener online, what comes next?