About Clinical Trials
| A clinical trial is a study in which people can participate in order to prove or disprove a scientific idea. It often involves studying the effectiveness of a treatment, medication, or investigational drug. Read about types of clinical trials. If you are interested in participating in a clinical trial, there are important things to consider. Below you will find some basic information about how clinical trials are conducted. Research protocols Each clinical trial must follow a careful plan of action, which may be called a protocol or research protocol. This plan outlines how the study will run and why the different parts of the study are necessary, as well as provides a detailed description of every aspect of the clinical trial. Read about the four phases of clinical trials. Investigational drugs Most new drugs have to be evaluated in three separate phases before being approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Investigational drugs either have not been approved by the FDA, or they are drugs that the FDA has approved for a different purpose. Clinical trials are a necessary step in that process. Read about the process from laboratory to trial: bench to bedside. Informed consent It is important that you know your rights if you are considering participating in a clinical trial. Clinical research is permitted only if volunteers understand the risks and have joined without feeling pressured to do so. All clinical trials at DHMC are reviewed and approved by a Dartmouth College institutional review board (IRB) named the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS). The mission of the CPHS is to protect the rights and welfare of research participants. Read about informed consent. | Clinical Trials QuestionsRelated LinksLinks to Other Medical Websites |
