Why do we have clinical trials?
Clinical trials advance medical knowledge and patient care. They help determine whether a new drug or treatment works well and safely in people, and if it improves patient outcomes over what current standard treatments achieve. They also can determine:
- Which treatments are most effective for certain illnesses or groups of people
- If a treatment being studied is as good as what is currently available, but causes fewer side effects
- Whether it works for certain types of patients not helped by current treatments
- Whether the benefits of the new treatment outweigh risks
