Medical care no doubt has improved as a result of clinical research studies that are designed for testing new drugs, developing procedures, and introducing new treatments for diseases. The clinical research studies and trials that you are asked to participate in advance medical care as clinicians seek the best cure for diseases.
Benefiting You Or Someone Else
Your participation could help your medical condition or benefit other people with a particular disease. You are not being experimented on when you participate in a clinical trial. The clinicians conducting the trials are simply trying to learn what is the best treatment for a disease. Your participation helps to advance treatment and care for yourself or someone else in a safe program.
Your Safety Is A Priority
An institutional review board (IRB) ensures your protection throughout the trial before the clinical trial even begins. Your safety is of paramount importance to the clinicians who conduct the studies. Federal regulations are also guaranteed when these trials are conducted.
Your Consent To Be Tested
There is a consent process that must take place. In order for the trial to begin, you'll be asked to sign a consent form that gives permission for your participation in the study. Benefits and risks of the trials are outlined to you in detail by the study team. Rest assured that when you're tested with a drug, that drug has already undergone years of developmental testing and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Four Drug Phases For Clinical Trials
Different questions are addressed during four phases of designated drug trials. Phase I trials address safety, side effects, and how a particular drug will be administered. Small groups of people are tested in a phase I trial. Phase II increases the size of group participants. Safety and experimental treatment is the focus of this group testing. Phase III uses a fairly larger group with an emphasis on evaluation and placebo treatment comparison.
Awareness Of Risks
Since some health insurance carriers and health care providers do not always fully cover costs for clinical trials, make sure that you clarify whether the trials you plan to participate in are covered so that you won't be billed for participating in a clinical trial. You should also understand that new treatments and strategies embodied in the testing you're about to undergo might not be better than what is currently being used for a particular ailment. New side effects could arise that doctors aren't yet aware of that are caused by new biological treatments.
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