Patient Safety in Clinical Trials

Clinical trial participants are a vital part of cancer research, and patient safety is of utmost importance in the clinical trial process. There are federal rules in place to help ensure the safety and ethics of clinical trials. If you choose to take part in a clinical trial, you will be protected through:

• The Informed Consent Process;
• Careful review and approval of the clinical trial protocol by scientific experts and an institutional review board (IRB);
• Ongoing monitoring of the trial by the IRB, Data and Safety Monitoring Boards (DSMBs) for phase 3 trial, the organization sponsoring the trial, and the research team.

For more about how your safety is protected on clinical trials, visit http://cancer.gov/patientsafety