Barb's Daily Dose

Ask The Questions

Today's Featured Guest is Rachel Pappas, Freelance Writer

I’m a journalist; I’m not shy about asking questions, including about my health. But once I got cancer, I was swimming in decisions to consider, and information to wade through. I was facing new possibilities foreign to me and didn’t always know what to ask, or how to ask.

When I was trying to learn what I could about a clinical trial – to decide if I wanted to enter it - I thought I had all I needed to know. I’d looked over the one study my doctor led me to. When I’d asked, “Is the new chemo as safe as the old one?” And she assured me she believed so, I was ready to go.

Should You Participate in a Clinical Trial - Part 3

Blazing Trails Through Clinical Research

Part (3) of a 3-Part Series on Clinical Trials 

Featured by Our Guest Rachel Pappas, Freelance Writer 

New medicine doesn't come to fruition overnight.  In fact, you can consider it a given that the drugs in your medicine cabinet underwent years of intensive testing before they ever lined the pharmacy shelves.  Each trial phase is designed to answer specific research questions.

Here’s How the Phases Play Out…

• Phase I studies assess the safety of a drug or device, including side effects, after they have been tested on animals and determined acceptable for human testing. About 70 percent of drugs pass this phase.
• Phase II studies test the efficacy of a drug or device. Usually one group of patients receives the experimental drug, while a second "control" group receives a standard treatment or placebo. You, and even the researchers, may never know if you received the experimental drug. About one-third of drugs successfully complete both Phase I and Phase II studies.

Should You Participate in a Clinical Trial - Part 2

 

Part (2) of a 3-Part Series on Clinical Trials 

Featured by Our Guest Rachel Pappas, Freelance Writer

What You Need to Know

Medical breakthroughs happen, and lives are saved every day, because of people who take place in clinical research to test new treatments, new medical devices, diagnostics, and medical approaches. 

But, as with any medical intervention, there are both potential risks and benefits to participation.