Cancer clinical trials

What are clinical trials?
Clinical trials are studies performed with human subjects to test new drugs or combinations of drugs, new approaches to surgery or radiotherapy or procedures to improve the diagnosis of the disease and the quality of life of the patient.

Many hospitals now take part in cancer clinical trials, which are only begun after laboratory studies have outlined the potential safety of a new treatment or procedure and that it has the potential to work better than existing methods.

Why are clinical trials important?
None of the existing cancer treatments result in a cure of all patients, nor are they without side effects, and cancer doctors continue looking for better ways to diagnose the disease and treat their patients.

Clinical trials contribute to our knowledge and progress in the fight against cancer and many of today’s effective standard treatments are based on the results of previous trials.

Because of the progress made through clinical trials, many people treated for cancer are now living longer.