What are clinical trials?

Clinical trials are medical research studies involving people. All new treatments have to be thoroughly tested. Researchers test possible new drugs in the laboratory to begin with. If they look promising, they are carefully tested in people.

Clinical trials look at

Risks and causes – how genetics, lifestyle and other factors can increase people's risk of cancer
Preventing cancer – using drugs or lifestyle changes to reduce risk
Screening – tests for people with higher than average risk of cancer or for the general population
Diagnosing cancer – new tests, scans or procedures
Treatments – new drugs or combinations of drugs. Trials also look at new doses of drugs or new ways of giving treatment and new types of treatment
Controlling symptoms or side effects – new drugs or complementary therapies
Support and information - for people with cancer and their carers, families or friends

The 5 minute video below tells you more about clinical trials:

Cancer Research Trials | Cancer Research UK

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Read the full video transcript.

The aim of clinical trials

Trials aim to find out if a new treatment or procedure:

is safe
has side effects
works better than the currently used treatment
affects quality of life

What trials tell us

Some trials will show that a new treatment works better than an existing treatment. Others will tell us more about the side effects, or what happens to the drug in the body.

Not all clinical trials will result in new and better treatment. Results sometimes show that:

the treatment being tested does not work or
that it has side effects that are worse than with existing treatments.

This information is also useful for researchers and doctors, and in the end for patients. It all adds to our knowledge of cancer and how best to treat it.

Researchers also want to look at the impact a treatment has on you and your life. How often you have to travel to the hospital, for example. Studies that look at the effect a treatment or procedure has on your day to day life are sometimes called quality of life studies. Many trials include a quality of life study.