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Facts about clinical trials
- Myth: A clinical trial is a last resort.
- Myth: Clinical trials are risky.
- Myth: Patients are given “sugar pills.”
- Myth: Health insurance won’t cover the cost.
- Myth: You only go on a clinical trial if you have cancer.
“Aren’t they just sugar pills?”
There are many misconceptions about clinical trials. Here’s what you should know.
Clinical trials are health-related research studies in human beings that follow a predefined set of rules. These rules protect the participants and ensure the integrity of the findings. At Massey, we focus on trials that answer questions related to cancer.
Massey offers 120 clinical trials, more than any other cancer center in Virginia — including cancer prevention and treatment studies — in an effort to improve the standards of care for cancers as diverse as invasive breast cancer, metastatic head and neck cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and hematologic malignancies.
“Through clinical trials, our patients are on the cutting edge of cancer therapy. It’s a special partnership,” says Connie Honeycutt, R.N., clinical research nurse coordinator at Massey. “By combining our knowledge and their participation, we get closer and closer to finding cures.”
Myth: A clinical trial is a last resort.
Fact: Some people think you only “resort” to a trial after standard treatments have failed. Some trials involve comparisons of competing standard treatments, including first treatments. Other trials involve further development of treatments already shown to be promising on the basis of previous research.
Waiting until other treatments are exhausted lessens a patient’s chance of being eligible for a clinical trial. The best time to make a decision about participating in a clinical trial is at the time of first diagnosis and every time a new treatment decision must be made.
At Massey, each new patient is evaluated by a multi-disciplinary team of clinical experts who work together to offer the best treatment plan to patients. When appropriate and based on each individual patient, treatment options may include clinical trials.
Myth: Clinical trials are risky.
Fact: Patients on clinical trials are watched very closely by their doctors and care team. In fact, many patients have said they appreciated the extra attention they received while participating in a clinical trial.
Massey belongs to 13 national cooperative groups that develop and deliver clinical trials for various types of cancers. With the cooperative group system, several cancer centers can offer the exact same trial to patients, based on the exact same protocols. With strength in numbers, cooperative groups help expand the number of patients on studies and can collect more data to evaluate the effectiveness of the trial.
Trials are carefully monitored by the cooperative group study team as well as, in most cases, an independent data and safety monitoring board. Patient data — without individual identifiers — is reported and shared among the cooperative group members.
As part of the monitoring and data-sharing process, clinical researchers can identify any irregularities in symptoms. If a problem arises, the trial can be altered or stopped, and a patient may opt out at any time for any reason. Just like all medical treatments, cancer clinical trials are not risk-free. However, the safety of patients is of utmost importance to the researchers.
Myth: Patients are given “sugar pills.”
Fact: Patients who participate in clinical trials are given the best treatment available. They either receive the current standard of care or the chance to receive a new treatment being considered. The data and outcomes are compared to determine if the new treatment being evaluated is, indeed, better than the current best standard of care. If so, then the discovery cycle has come full circle — proof positive — and that new best standard will become available to other patients.
Sugar pills (placebos) are seldom used in cancer clinical trials and are never used if a known, effective treatment is available.
Myth: Health insurance won’t cover the cost.
Fact: Many insurers cover the normal costs of treatment for cancer clinical trials and many states, including Virginia, have mandatory coverage for certain types of trials. Our research nurses will gladly contact a patient’s insurance company on their behalf.
The cost to Massey is considerable given the infrastructure costs of clinical trials, but offering them is a critical component of our research mission.
Myth: You only go on a clinical trial if you have cancer.
Fact: Several cancer prevention and control studies are also available in addition to cancer treatment studies. Many participants are those who have a strong family health history of cancer and want to explore ways that may reduce their chance of developing cancer.
