What are the benefits of Clinical Trials?
Clinical trials are a type of research used to see how certain healthcare interventions affect people. This type of study could focus on medical, behavioral, or surgical types of interventions. They may be used to study new treatments to see if they're better than currently available options, as well as methods for prevention, early detection, or better quality of life for certain health conditions or diseases. There are many benefits of clinical trials and participating in them. We take you through some of the proven benefits below:
They Provide New Solutions
Clinical trials test new treatments to find the best methods for treating or managing health conditions and diseases. The results can make life better for people affected. For example, a trial may find that a new drug has fewer side effects or works better for symptoms than the drug currently used for a health condition, according to the National Institute on Aging. New solutions can have great importance that ranges from improving quality of life to saving lives.
They Are Regulated
Clinical trials are strictly regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and they have stringent standards that need to be followed for the trial. Trials include three phases before the FDA approves the intervention if the results of the trial were positive. Then, a fourth trial continues research to ensure the effectiveness and safety of the intervention. These regulations ensure that clinical trials are safe for participants and that the intervention is safe and worthwhile for use in humans.
They Give Early Access to New Solutions
Participating in a clinical trial gives you a way to try a new intervention for your health condition or disease. You would have access to this intervention before it's available to the general public. This opportunity could be beneficial to you if your current intervention isn't working as well as you would hope or if you'd like to try something new. There may be particular reasons why you would be interested in the new intervention. For example, if your current drug causes side effects you find unpleasant, you may want to see if a new drug would provide a better experience.
They Offer Hope
In some cases, clinical trials offer hope of another chance when current treatments aren't working or there are no available effective treatments. This could particularly be beneficial for people with life-threatening illnesses without other options. For example, Johns Hopkins Medicine explains that people with aggressive and generally incurable tumors or tumors without curative treatments can try experimental treatments through clinical trials. This opportunity could provide a treatment option for people who otherwise had none. If participants didn't gain direct benefits from the participation, they would provide medical information to help people in the future.
They Offer Check-ups and Care
A clinical trial may provide you with specialized care if you participate. There's the potential to get health check-ups and to test interventions that may prevent or provide early detection of health conditions or diseases. It's also possible for you to receive free or low-cost medical care, travel, and related expenses as part of the trial. These aspects could benefit your own health and help you be proactive.
They Give Access to Top Medical Professionals
Often, clinical trial research teams include top-notch medical professionals. Breastcancer.org explains that by participating in a clinical trial, you could have leading physicians and researchers working on your case. Further, these professionals are likely to be specialized in the area that pertains to your health condition or disease, such as breast cancer. You would have the benefit of ongoing care from these leading professionals, and they would generally address any side effects of the intervention right away.
They Add to Medical Knowledge
Clinical trials provide physicians and researchers with information about health concerns, diagnoses, and interventions. This information can be invaluable, especially in the case of health conditions or diseases without much current knowledge or effective treatment. The information learned through the study can teach physicians and researchers about how the health condition or disease affects the body, and help them develop or improve ways to best diagnose and manage or treat it. If you participate in this type of clinical trial, the information learned has the potential to help your case or to help people with the same disease or condition in the future.
This list shows many of the benefits of clinical trials. You can see that these trials provide benefits for our wealth of medical knowledge, for participants, and for the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and management of health conditions and diseases. They continuously aim to further the medical field by offering better interventions than we currently have, and they follow strict guidelines to ensure that these interventions are safe and effective for humans.
Find Relevant Clinical Trials Near You
Our team of medical research professionals at Clinical Connection is committed to connecting our participants to relevant clinical trials in their area. We are proud to have connected over one million people to clinical trials. Visit our services page to find out our database and information for CROs, sponsors, and recruiters. Become a member for free and get notified when trials become available.