Parkinson's Disease:
Clinical Trials: A Guide for People With Parkinson's

• What is a clinical trial?
• How does the process work?
• What are the advantages of participating in a clinical trial?
• What are the disadvantages of participating in a clinical trial?
• How would my care be different if I participated in a clinical trial?
• What is informed consent?
• Who can participate in a clinical trial?
• What is it like to participate in a clinical trial?
• Important questions to ask
• Is there a Parkinson's clinical trial I could participate in?

You may have heard about clinical trials from your doctor, read or heard advertisements in the newspaper or on the radio, or found out about trials in your area through a support group or association. Before you decide to participate in a trial, you should be aware of the potential benefits and risks. This guide provides a brief overview of the clinical trial process.

What Is a Clinical Trial?

A clinical trial is a research program conducted in patients to evaluate a new medical treatment, drug, or device. The purpose of clinical trials is to find new and improved methods of treating diseases and special conditions.

During a clinical trial, doctors use the best available treatment as a standard to evaluate new treatments. The new treatments are hoped to be at least as effective as -- or possibly more effective than -- the standard.

New treatment options are first researched in the laboratory, where they are carefully studied in the test tube and in laboratory animals. Only the treatments most likely to work are further evaluated in a small group of humans prior to applying them in a larger clinical trial.

When a new medical treatment is studied for the first time in humans, scientists don't know exactly how it will work. With any new treatment, there are possible risks as well as benefits. Clinical trials help doctors discover the answers to these questions:

• Is the treatment safe and effective?
• Is the treatment potentially better than the treatments currently available?
• What are the side effects of the treatment?
• Does the treatment have any possible risks?
• How well does the treatment work?

From the Doctors at MedicineNet.com

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