The Basics About Participating in Clinical Trials and Why Should I Participate

Suppose you’re someone looking for a treatment that can benefit you or you’re just the type of person who wants to contribute to the world's medical knowledge. In that case, you should know the fundamental things about participating in clinical trials.

There are many things in it for you if you’re willing to participate. Most clinical trials offer financial incentives, specialized care, expert medical advice, and other personal benefits. However, you might experience some side effects that are not that good for you.

What Are Clinical Trials?

Clinical trials are something that’s helped medicine evolve in general. It’s not only about the evolution of how we perceive physical wellness, it’s also about how we perceive the psychological wellness of people.

Clinical trials are tied to procedures, interventions, devices, and other things tested in humans. The point of a clinical trial is to understand how well something works when we use it, and how safe it is to use.

So, even if you’re willing to participate, you should first go over the necessary details of the trial. But, even then, it might not be possible to participate depending on where you’re located, because sometimes clinical trials are based on location.

Some articles suggest that there might be a correlation between emerging countries and clinical trials. However, the most common connection to the localization of a clinical trial is the fact that the diseases and conditions treated are local.

Clinical Trials that Pay the Most

Some clinical trials or clinical trial phases can pay more than others. It’s usually the phase 1 of trials where you can receive the highest compensation. Our source tells us that the compensation is around $2000.

Moreover, it depends on what the condition being studied is. Usually, trials that try for interventions related to arthritis or something more serious are paid more than other trials. We recommend reading about it before jumping into it.

Clinical Trial vs Study

When people speak about these two things, they usually mean the same. But, there can be a difference in the type of research that’s performed in a medical field. We’re going to discuss the differences between these two things.

Clinical Trials

The main purpose of clinical trials is to evaluate the safety of some medical interventions or new devices. They are there to test if a drug or a procedure is safe to use. Clinical trials are done on humans.

They’re performed on a voluntary basis, and the individuals who participate receive treatments or some other form of intervention during a certain period of time. Trials run under protocols and plans, there are objectives, eligibility for the participants, methods of intervention, etc.

Another thing that sets them apart from studies is the fact that they have different phases. There are always three main phases, and sometimes there’s a fourth phase. But, we’ll get into that a little later.

Studies

The term ‘studies’ might be considered an umbrella term for clinical trials. Studies encompass a great deal of scientific research procedures, objectives, methodologies, etc. So, apart from clinical trials, you also have other types of studies.

The observational type of study is performed without any intervention in the life of the participant. A qualitative medical study can provide many significant details in the medical field based on the experiences of the participants with particular health problems.

Apart from clinical trials that usually have some kind of drug or procedure administration for the participants, other study types can focus on gathering data and analyzing it to benefit the medical field.

Clinical Trial Phases

There are usually three phases of clinical trials. But sometimes, there’s a fourth phase. So, it’s a longer process. With these phases, we become more and more sure that we can use a drug or a treatment safely and effectively with no major consequences:

1. Phase one: This is the first phase where humans are tested. It’s a range from about 20 up to 100 participants. They are healthy people, and here we try to see if the treatment is safe and if there are any side effects.
2. Phase two: More people get added to the group of participants. In this phase, the number is usually in the hundreds, and it’s still a safety and effectiveness assessment phase. Usually, we can figure out the appropriate dosage of the treatment in this phase.
3. Phase three: Now the number gets to thousands, and the trials in this phase go beyond just administering the drug or treatment, they make a comparison group with people receiving a placebo (a fake drug that does nothing). The results of this phase will determine the approval of the appropriate regulatory body.
4. Phase four: This happens when the drug or treatment is already available to the general public. The use of the drug and its effects are monitored in the long term to see its effectiveness in the real world.

Types of Clinical Trials

If you’re wondering which type of clinical trial you should participate in, we can tell you that there are several possibilities, depending on location, disease, phase, and age. Again, it depends on where you’re located and what you want to gain from it. Here are some types that are pretty common in the world:

• Treatment clinical trials: It’s the type of trial where we treat people with a certain procedure or a new type of medication. We compare the intervention with regular treatments or a placebo. This is the type with the four phases.
• Diagnostic clinical trials: As you might conclude from the name, these trials focus on the effectiveness of a new diagnostics method, a new way to detect a disease and help diagnose it.
• Screening clinical trials: These trials are conducted to help determine the validity and effectiveness of screening tests. If successful they help validate effective ways of preventing diseases by identifying the risk factors.
• Prevention clinical trials: These are trials that study procedures or drugs that can prevent something from occurring or reoccurring. They’re usually aimed at vaccines, changes in your lifestyle, and other medications, etc.

Conclusion

The basics of clinical trials are pretty simple. They’re trials to help figure out the safety and effectiveness of drugs or procedures we want to use to treat, diagnose, prevent, or screen diseases, or other states of well-being.

You should participate if you want to contribute to the general well-being of the population, or if you’re looking to gain a little bit of financial incentive. Both are valid reasons and we just recommend going through all of this once before you decide if you’re willing to participate.