He tried several prescription drugs, but they only provided minor relief. He signed up immediately and became one of an estimated half-million Americans who enroll in tens of thousands of clinical trials each year. Simply speaking, a clinical trial is a research study designed to evaluate new ways to treat or prevent illnesses, usually in controlled tests that compare the new treatment to a placebo or standard treatment. Although clinical trials have been used since the dawn of modern medicine, it was not until 1962, when the US Congress amended the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, that they became a required step in the development of any new treatment. Clinical trials are how you determine whether something works, from the latest pharmaceutical drugs to new massage therapies.
Patients join clinical trials for many reasons.
According to the National Institutes of Health, most patients enroll because they are unsatisfied with current therapy.