Clinical Trials
Section outline
Introduction
For as many types of arthritis as there are, and as many known and unknown
causes, there are many more researchers with ideas about how to prevent and
treat these conditions. Some work for universities. Some work for pharmaceutical
or biotechnology companies. From all of those ideas, a select few ideas will
be shared by enough scientists to justify testing them, to see if the ideas
work.
What are Clinical Trials?
Whether these ideas involve medications, surgeries or just physical therapies,
in order for the medical community to understand what works, each idea must
be tested for basic safety, and then tested in comparison to a "control." The
new idea needs to be proven to work better than either no treatment at all,
or another similar treatment that we already know works.
When scientists want to test new ideas in humans, the tests are called clinical
trials. Before ideas are proven safe enough to test in humans, the tests
are called "preclinical."
How Do Clinical Trials Work?
When the government determines an idea is safe to test in humans, researchers
set up a "protocol," the rules about how the new treatment will
be used, what it will be compared to, and what results will be measured to
determine if it works. These rules also sometimes describe who can participate
in the tests. People who are too healthy or too sick or who have certain
complications to their condition may not participate, either because there
would be too much chance for them to get hurt by the experiment, or because
they are too different from those for whom the experimental idea is intended.
There are several phases of clinical trials. Phase I trials are usually
performed in healthy young adults. These are the government's and scientists'
way of proving the ideas are safe for humans before they test the ideas in
sick people. Then in Phase II, the ideas are tested in the "target population," sick
people for whom the ideas were designed, but usually in small numbers or
low doses to see if the ideas are as safe in the target population as they
should be, and if they show some promise to help as predicted. Finally, Phase
III trials happen when ideas appear safe and promising, and need to be tested
in much larger numbers of the target population and tested in comparison
to no treatment, or another treatment.
Why Participate?
There are several reasons to consider participating in clinical trials,
some "selfish" reasons, and some for the "greater good."
Individuals who participate in clinical trials may benefit in several ways.
They may gain access to additional medical care and observation. For people
on fixed incomes or without insurance coverage, this can be particularly
helpful. They also may gain access to a new treatment that helps them in
ways current treatments don't, so they may find relief from their condition.
And some clinical trials even pay participants modest amounts.
People who participate in clinical trials also do a great service to others.
Whether or not the idea being tested turns out to work or not, scientists
need people to participate in clinical trials to find that out for sure.
There can be some risk when participating in clinical trials, and every person
who enters a trial should be given what is called an "informed consent," a
document that describes what those risks are. But the risks are usually fairly
minor, and people in clinical trials typically have medical staff to talk
to about any problems that come up.
How to Get Started
The best way to find out about clinical trials that might be right for you
is to ask your doctor. Researchers often work with physicians to identify
people who are right for their clinical trials. But if you want to find out
a bit on your own about what trials are available, click on the following
link to see currently active clinical trials involving various forms of arthritis.
If you see something that looks like it might be for you, again, ask your
doctor about it. Or if you decide to sign up on your own, always let your
doctor know, in case you need to stop taking medicines they have prescribed
for a while, or in case they know something about your condition that the
researchers should know.
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/gui/action/SearchAction?term=arthritis
