Taking part in a trial
The people who volunteer to take part in a clinical trial play an essential role in helping scientists to develop and test treatments for the benefit of everyone in the community. This page contains information on what to do if you would like to take part in a trial.
Patients
If you are being treated for a condition, ask your doctor or the health professional who sees you most often whether there are any trials that might be suitable for you.
All of the trials that the MRC funds have a unique international identifier called an International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN). To view a register of our current trials visit the ISRCTN Register website
The MRC Clinical Trials Unit in London runs a national register of randomised trials in cancer.
Some charities have developed registers of clinical trials on their area of interest. For example, the Cancer Research UK website has a user-friendly guide to many cancer trials that are being run in the UK.
For a list of UK trials in HIV/AIDS, visit the National AIDS Manual website.
Healthy volunteers
For information about taking part in a clinical trial as a healthy person, see the Association of Clinical Research Contractors.
Before taking part, you will be given detailed information about the study and the opportunity to ask as many questions as you wish. You will be asked for details of your medical history and given a thorough medical examination. You will also be asked to sign a consent form. Volunteers have the right to withdraw from a trial at any point.
Eligibility
All trials have guidelines about who can or cannot take part, called inclusion/exclusion criteria. The researchers use these criteria when recruiting volunteers. This helps to ensure that their trial includes the people who might benefit most from the new treatment, and excludes those for whom it might not be safe or appropriate.
Safety of clinical trials
Clinical trials generally take place once extensive animal testing has shown that any new treatments being assessed are safe.
In the UK, the researchers must obtain approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before a trial involving medicines can start. They must draw up a plan called a protocol, which includes information such as who and how many people will take part, what question the trial aims to answer, what treatments will be compared and how the test results will be collected.
All trial protocols should be assessed for scientific merit by independent experts and approved by an ethics committee to ensure that the rights of the participants will be respected. Once the protocol has been approved, the trial can begin.
Participants can withdraw from a trial at any stage without having to give a reason. This will have no effect on the care they receive.