These rules are found under the eligibility criteria section of a protocol. The eligibility criteria list the person's characteristics necessary to be in the study such as the type of disease, age limit of people involved and their general health. Clinical trials have several steps they must pass through to ensure a participant gets careful medical attention. One or more review groups have to approve the protocol for each study before a patient is asked to participate. The IRB is made up of doctors, other health care providers, consumers and sometimes members of the clergy, who do not have any personal interest in the results of the study.
People volunteer to be a part of a clinical trial for several reasons.
Some people simply want to help in the advancement of science. Some people may be suffering from a disease for which a good treatment does not presently exist. Others join hoping to get improved medical care. By joining a clinical trial, a person helps in the development of medical therapies, which may offer better treatments for life-threatening and chronic diseases. Without volunteers, there would be no new drugs to fight diseases.