What are clinical trials?

Clinical trials help to find new methods for diagnosing, treating, managing and preventing cancer. They examine a broad range of areas:

new anti-cancer drugs, including chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, biological therapy and immunotherapy agents
new approaches to cancer prevention, screening, surgery and radiation therapy
new combinations of treatments
new ways of using standard treatments
complementary and alternative cancer therapies
supportive care to reduce the impact of cancer on emotions and behaviour

If the new method or treatment is found to be safe and effective in clinical trials, then it can be made available to the public. Through past clinical trials, doctors have developed new methods of surgery that are less invasive. Scientists have also developed new drugs that are more effective for specific types of cancer, or that have fewer side effects. Even the most promising scientific findings must first be proven to be safe and effective in clinical trials before they can be used as standard treatment. The cancer treatments that are used today were developed and tested in clinical trials.

Last modified on: 09 December 2009