What are clinical trials?

Clinical Research
  • New treatments become available through clinical research. 
  • This may involve a clinical trial or an observational study.
  • In observational studies, researchers observe people in normal settings without intervening (without giving them any treatment, or none at all). 

 

Clinical Trials

‘Clinical trial’ is the name given to a research project in which people volunteer to be part of a study that tests new ways to diagnose, treat or manage health conditions. Clinical trials may:  

  • Test new treatments 
  • Compare treatments that are already being used to see which one works best, and/or 
  • Look at new ways to use treatments that already exist.  

What this means is...

A clinical trial is research. The treatment being tested may or may not work.

Enrolling in a clinical trial is entirely your choice. You do not have to participate. If you do not want to enrol, your treating team will respect your choice, and will still provide your child with the best-known treatment. 

 

The different types of potential treatments clinical trials can explore include: 

Treatments

The following pages provide further information about clinical trials:

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Content on this page was generated via the GenE Compass project. The following article provides more information about the project: 

  • Robertson EG, Kelada L, Best S, Goranitis, I, Grainger N, Le Marne F, Pierce K, Nevin, SM, Macintosh R, Beavis E, Sachdev R, Bye A, Palmer EE. (2022). Acceptability and feasibility of an online information linker service for caregivers who have a child with genetic epilepsy: a mixed-method pilot study protocol. BMJ Open, 12:e063249. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-063249