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Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are research studies that patients can voluntarily participate in. These studies test the safety and effectiveness of new treatments to find better ways to diagnose and treat cancer.
Cancer clinical trials can have different objectives, such as testing new:
Should you participate in a clinical trial?
Potential Benefits
Potential Risks
Most cancer drugs go through three to four trial phases:
Phase I
Evaluates the safety
of the new drug or
procedure
Phase II
Tests the new drug or
procedure on a specific cancer type
Phase III
The new drug or
procedure is compared to current treatments
Phase IV
Additional testing after initial approval to study long-term effects or effectiveness in other
cancer types
Clinical trials used to only be available at major medical centers, but are now widely accessible in community care settings.
Maryland Oncology Hematology participates in clinical trials through US Oncology Research, which has played a role in more than 70 FDA-approved cancer therapies, about one-third of all cancer therapies approved by the FDA to date.