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1.7 min readPublished On: October 1, 2024

Understanding Patient Benefits of Clinical Trials

Myth: If you are battling a life-threatening disease and your doctor offers to get you into a clinical trial, that means there is nothing more the physician can do for you. You are looking for a miracle.

Fact: Clinical trials offer new treatment options, if you are fortunate enough to live near a research hospital. A trial is not necessarily your last resort, but it could be a better way to treat your disease.

Standard treatments are always available, but there are limited spots in a clinical trial. “I always recommend patients go with the trial first, if they can get in. The other treatment will always be there if the trial doesn’t work for them,” says Dr. Maen Hussein, oncologist at Florida Cancer Specialists.

A clinical trial means the treatment protocol has already been studied extensively. Trials are divided into three phases. In phase 1 trials, the drugs are not yet proven outside of the lab. Few patients are accepted into phase 1 trials; those are for patients who have tried everything else and may be looking for a miracle.

Phase 2 trials confirm that the treatment works and establishes its safety. 

“In phase 3 clinical trials, we know the drug works. We just don’t know yet if this treatment is better than the one we already have,” Dr. Hussein explains. He also points out that patients in a clinical trial are followed very closely and may actually get better care than if they went through a standard treatment protocol.

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) oversees medical research to protect patient rights and verify the quality and integrity of the data used in the approval process. According to the FDA website, there are currently almost 3,000 clinical trials taking place in the Central Florida region.

The best way to find a clinical trial that might be appropriate for you is to ask your doctor, but the FDA website has a search feature and other resources to help you learn about clinical trials in your area.

Click here to read more information from the FDA.

About the Author: Christine Andola

Christine Andola
With a bachelor’s degree in communication from the State University of New York, College at New Paltz, in 1990 Christine embarked on a blind journey to building a career. She moved through teaching in the inner city public schools, reporting for a weekly newspaper, writing user manuals and technical documentation at a software company, lobbying and public relations at the state level for national associations and marketing for professional services firms. Christine’s writing portfolio includes everything from newspapers to grant proposals. She has developed web content, written blogs, ghost-written professional journal articles and drafted ad copy. From technical writing to lifestyle feature pieces, Christine lives by the value of words. She enjoys learning about the people around her and sharing information in a way that resonates with readers.

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