The research community is working to discover and test new prostate cancer therapies that promise to improve patient outcomes and potentially lead to a cure. Yet many people are unaware that clinical trials are currently enrolling prostate cancer patients to assess such experimental therapies. Information about these clinical trials and how to participate in them is available by visiting this website.
Finding a clinical trial and successfully enrolling in one can be a time-consuming process. But for patients with prostate cancer, participating in a trial is often worthwhile, giving them access to therapies not currently available on the market while helping the research community to advance its understanding of the disease and how best to treat it.
Where to Find Out About Trials
With the rise of the Internet and next-generation information platforms that directly reach out to patient populations, it is becoming increasingly easy for patients with prostate cancer and other diseases to research, inquire into, and potentially enroll in clinical trials. Companies, universities, and research institutions developing treatments often have contact information available on their websites that interested participants can use to be included in a trial. Often, medical centers conducting the trials and serving as investigational sites for experimental therapies also have information available online on trials that are currently enrolling.
Trials conducted both in the United States and abroad are registered with Clinicaltrials.gov — a U.S. government-run web resource that provides up-to-date information about the specifications and progress of clinical trials, as well as where therapies in trials are being tested and contact information. Clinicaltrials.gov is designed to serve both patients and the research community, with the information available in this platform updated by trial sponsors, and up-to-date about whether a trial is still enrolling or not.
Clinicaltrials.gov is not the only government-run resource for clinical trial information. The National Institutes of Health maintains two websites that help patients find clinical trials, one being a search engine for NIH-funded clinical research studies and the other called Research Match. Similar to Clinicaltrials.gov, these sites cater to researchers as well as patients, so not all information given in these clinical trial listings is pertinent to patients.
Websites and resources managed by foundations and advocacy groups are more geared toward patients. The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) offers updates on the latest prostate cancer clinical trials, as well as promising experimental therapies currently in the R&D pipeline.
CenterWatch is another site that helps connect people with clinical trials.
Talk to Your Physician
In addition, your physician may have information about clinical trials, particularly if you are being treated at a major medical center or a university hospital. In fact, you may want to access the center’s or university’s website to see what kind of research might be going on there. For example, the University of Chicago, University of Texas, Stanford University, Cedars-Sinai and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center all support a wide range on clinical trials for numerous diseases. Many of the major research centers will have information on their websites, so feel free to search for this information at a cancer center closest to your home. You may also decide to travel to a trial site.
Your doctor has access to your medical history and specific information about your diagnosis, and as such is the best person to ask about participating in a prostate cancer clinical trial. People with prostate cancer may ask their treating physician about the possibility of enrolling in a clinical trial, and specifically about a trial tailored to their stage of the disease and other characteristics of their diagnosis. Specific biomarkers may also determine who should participate in a particular trial. Your doctor may have more ideas about this.
Benefits of Participation
Participating in a clinical trial has many benefits, including access to potentially novel treatments that can provide better outcomes. Some patients often worry that they will not receive treatment if they participate in a trial. However, for cancer trials, even the comparison treatment needs to be effective. Sometimes the experimental treatment is also later made available to people placed in the comparison arm. Be sure to discuss the details of any trial that you are considering participating in with your physician and with the study organizers. Also keep in mind that participation is ultimately up to the volunteer, who can decide to be in a trial but can also drop out at any time for any reason.