Research Trial Resources and Information
Source: www.nih.gov
Research trials, also called clinical trials, are part of clinical research and at the heart of all medical advances.
Scientific trials aim to discover new ways to prevent, detect, or treat disease. Treatments might be new drugs or new combinations of drugs, new surgical procedures or devices, or new ways to use existing treatments. The goal of clinical trials is to determine if a new test or treatment works and is safe. Clinical trials can also look at other aspects of care, such as improving the quality of life for people with chronic illnesses.
People participate in trials for a variety of reasons. Healthy volunteers say they participate to help others and to contribute to moving science forward. Participants with an illness or disease also participate to help others, but also to possibly receive the newest treatment and to have the additional care and attention from the clinical trial staff. Clinical trials offer hope for many people and an opportunity to help researchers find better treatments for others in the future.
To learn more about participation in clinical trials, please visit this NIH guide to the basics and frequently asked questions.
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center Human Research Protection Program Brochure
- Pennington Biomedical Human Research Protections Program
- US Department of Health & Human Services Office of Human Research Protections
- US Food and Drug Administration
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- LA CaTS Center research participant portal
Participant questions, concerns or suggestions