For individuals who wish to take part in a clinical trial, there are benefits to being part of such studies. Taking part in clinical drug development can help doctors to learn more about a particular drug. Sometimes these studies include medical care for individuals who have a certain condition. For those who wish to take advantage of this opportunity, it can be a helpful way to gain new insight to a current condition that has not been responsive to other treatments. Here are two benefits to taking part in these trials, and what it means to be part of a phase 1 clinical trial.

A Clinical Study is Seen as a Helpful Way of Giving Back to the Medical Community

Those who elect to take part in a clinical study or clinical trials can be doing a huge service to the medical community. Almost half of individuals surveyed said that they liken this in same process as donating blood. Clinical trials are not always easy to become part of though, and individuals should remember that over 90% of people have never taken part in these studies. Therefore, being selected to take part in clinical trials is not something that happens for everyone.

Clinical Trials Go Through Several Different Phases

Those who are selected to take part in a phase 1 clinical trial will be part of a smaller group that is given the new or experimental drug (usually no more than 80 people). This is to evaluate how the drug reacts to different individuals. After the phase 1 clinical trial is complete, the drug study will move on to phase 2. This involves a slightly larger population, of a couple hundred people. Finally, there is phase 3. Here, individuals in numbers of 1,000 or higher are given the drug, and evaluated to see how it affects their system. Some people will be part of all three phases, while others will only take part in one. It is difficult to tell how many well be needed for medical research studies.

Taking part in clinical study is something many individuals feel is beneficial. It can help the medical community learn more about how certain drugs affect individuals, and it allows them to learn more about the medication, as it is administered to different phase groups. Although not everyone is selected to take part in these studies, there is much information and many benefits to be gained from having them.