Understanding Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are a critical part of the research process that help find better treatments and ways to prevent, detect, and treat diseases like diabetes. But very few people living with diabetes participate in clinical trials.
We know that a majority of people understand very little about clinical trials. Most are unaware of clinical trials as a treatment option or are misinformed about the clinical trial process.
By participating in this service, you are already helping to overcome some of the barriers to find better ways to manage your diabetes and your other health conditions.
What happens during a clinical trial?
Clinical trials are research studies that involve people. Each study tries to answer scientific questions and to find better ways to prevent, diagnose or treat specific diseases or conditions.
Clinical trials are conducted to allow safety and data to be collected for new medications or devices. These trials can only take place once satisfactory information has been gathered on the quality of the product and its non-clinical safety. Depending on the type of product and the stage of its development, clinical trials enroll healthy volunteers and/or patients into small studies initially, followed by larger scale studies in patients that often compare the new product with the currently prescribed treatment. As positive safety data is gathered, the number of patients can be increased.
What will researchers be able to do with the results from clinical trial research?
- Assess the safety and effectiveness of a new medication or device on a specific kind of patient (patients who have been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes for less than one year).
- Assess the safety and effectiveness of a different dose of a medication than is commonly used (10 mg dose instead of 5 mg dose).
- Assess the safety and effectiveness of an already prescribed medication or device for a new indication (a disease for which the drug is not approved yet).
- Assess whether the new medication or device is more effective for the patient’s condition than the already used, standard medication or device.
- Compare the effectiveness in patients with a specific disease of two or more already approved or common interventions for that disease (Device A vs. Device B, Medication A vs. Medication B).
What are the types of clinical trials?
Clinical trials are used to study many aspects of health care:
- Treatment trials test treatments for a specific disease or condition.
- Supportive care trials, also called quality-of-life trials, study ways of making sick people more comfortable and giving them a better quality of life.
- Prevention trials study ways to reduce the chance that people who are healthy, but may be at risk for a disease, will develop the disease.
- Early detection or screening trials study new ways of finding diseases or conditions in people who are at risk, before they have any signs or symptoms.
- Diagnostic trials test new ways to identify, more accurately and earlier, whether people have diseases and conditions.
