Risks and Benefits of Participating in Clinical Trials. If you take part in a clinical trial, you may benefit from a new drug, procedure, or symptom-control method. You may also contribute directly to finding better ways to prevent, detect, or treat the disease. Many of today's most effective interventions are the direct result of knowledge gained through clinical trials.
Every trial has a chief investigator, who is usually a doctor.
The protocol is a plan that explains what the trial will do, how, and why. If you were to participate in a clinical trial, you might receive your first treatment at a large cancer center, a university hospital, or your local medical center or physician's office. Every protocol identifies some specific characteristics that the people should have in order to participate in the study. These are called eligibility criteria. They may include the type of disease and extent of disease, age and general health.