If you or someone you know is thinking about taking part in a clinical trial, this booklet can answer some of your questions. Clinical trials in vision research have led to new medicines and surgeries that have saved or improved sight for thousands of people. Clinical trials involve medical research with people.
Most medical research begins with studies in test tubes and in animals.
Treatments that show promise in these early studies may then be tried with people. The only sure way to find out whether a new treatment is safe, effective, and better than other treatments is to try it on patients in a clinical trial. Clinical trials are carried out in three parts, or phases. Phase I trials in small numbers of patients and healthy volunteers. If the new treatment is a medicine, researchers also want to find out how much of it can be given safely.