Help/FAQ

Clinical Trials

What is a clinical trial?

A clinical trial is a scientific study that investigates new ways to prevent, diagnose, treat or manage a disease. In a clinical trial, doctors compare the proposed new method with the current best method to determine which method offers the most benefits to patients.

Scientific discoveries that offer new, more effective treatments for cancer are studied in clinical trials and often become the standard treatments of the future. Clinical trials can bring promising new therapies to cancer patients sooner.

To find out more about cancer clinical trials, visit the Canadian Cancer Society web site link on the homepage, speak to your doctor and/or call the Canadian Cancer Society’s Cancer Information Service at 1-888-939-3333 Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m, or send an email to info@cis.cancer.ca.

Should everyone with cancer consider a clinical trial?

You may be thinking about taking part in a clinical trial or your doctor may have asked you to participate in one. There are many reasons why you may choose to take part. Most people take part in clinical trials for personal reasons. Other participants feel satisfied knowing they may be helping others with cancer, both now and in the future.

If you are thinking of participating in a clinical trial, talk to your doctor or someone on your healthcare team. They can help find out whether or not you are eligible to enter a specific trial and can answer any questions you may have. Before deciding whether a clinical trial is an option for you or someone you care about, it’s important to learn all you can.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

Clinical trials are carefully designed to have as few risks and as many benefits as possible for everyone who takes part, whichever treatment they get. But each clinical trial offers its own possible benefits and risks. It is important to discuss these with your doctor.

Can I use this website to apply for entry into a clinical trial?

No. This website provides information to help you find clinical trials. You should talk to your doctor about whether a clinical trial might be a suitable treatment option for you. A referral from your doctor is required to take part in any clinical trial. If you are interested in a clinical trial, there is an option to print the trial details to give to your doctor.

How do I know if I am eligible for a clinical trial?

After refining your search and finding a clinical trial, you will need to find out if you meet the specific conditions, or criteria, for entering the trial. The next step may require your doctor to answer a more advanced set of questions about your case history. Once this is done, you will learn whether or not you are eligible for the trial.

Where do clinical trials take place?

Clinical trials usually take place in the same location where standard cancer treatment is given – cancer centres, hospitals, clinics or doctors’ offices. Large clinical trials may involve thousands of people at hundreds of locations across Canada, the United States or around the world.

Who runs clinical trials?

Every trial has a principal investigator. Principal investigators are doctors with a lot of experience in the subject that is being studied. They design the trial protocol and apply for approval and funding. They are in charge of running the trial and coordinate with all the members of the clinical trial team at all locations. Every doctor conducting the trial at every location follows the same trial protocol.

Doctors, nurses, lab technicians and other healthcare providers also make sure the clinical trial runs smoothly. You will work closely with some of them as part of your clinical trial team.

Who pays for the costs of a clinical trial?

Depending on where you participate, the costs including tests, drugs and other therapies, will be covered either by the trial organizers or by your own provincial health insurance plan. As this varies from trial to trial and province to province, you will be given this information once you are accepted.

How am I protected?

All clinical trial protocols must be approved by Health Canada and the hospital or clinic where the trial will take place. Protocols must also be approved by a research ethics board. A research ethics board is an independent group that includes doctors, nurses, medical staff, members of the public and sometimes lawyers. Many institutions have their own research ethics boards.

Health Canada and a research ethics board monitor every trial until it is completed. These groups oversee the rights, safety and well-being of all the participants and make sure that trials follow proper scientific methods.

What is an observational trial?

Observational Trials involve education, training, counseling and/or screening. These trials help researchers assess a participant's risk of developing cancer and create cancer awareness. Most of these types of clinical trials accept only healthy volunteers.

What is a prevention trial?

Cancer prevention trials look for new ways to reduce the risk of developing cancer or prevent it from coming back.

What is the "List a clinical trial" form used for? (Found at the footer of every page)

The "List a clinical trial" form is used for listing a clinical trial on www.canadiancancertrials.ca. Intended for the sponsor of a clinical trial, this form should be filled in cases where a trial is occurring at a trial centre, but is not listed on the www.ClinicalTrials.gov or Canadian Cancer Trials websites. Once completing this form, the user may also go to the www.ClinicalTrials.gov site and list the trial there as well (navigate to Investigator Instructions, PRS Information Page, and follow the registration process to submit the trial information to www.ClinicalTrials.gov).

Search Tips

How can I search the website for clinical trials?

There are two ways to conduct a search. The first is by using the guided search with pre-defined criteria to narrow your results, the second is via a keyword search. You should read about each search in order to choose the one that will give you the results you want.

How do I use the "Refine Your Search" feature?

There are a number of refinements you can make to narrow your search such as: the cancer type, the province, the city/town, trial centres, the drug being used and personalized options. You may search using one or a combination of these selections. Your search will find all the clinical trials that match the selections you make. As you make selections, new categories appear that will assist in further narrowing your results. For example, upon selecting a particular province, a location selector will appear providing cities within a particular province. If you do not see a particular value please access the “Show more…” link located below each category.

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer has used an intelligent search engine in this search. Once you make a selection in one category, the options in the other categories change to match only items linked to your first choice. For example, if you choose leukemia as the type of cancer, the Drug list will show only the drugs being used in leukemia trials. If you then choose a location, such as London, then the Drug list will show only the drugs being tested in leukemia trials in London.

As you make selections, the number of recruiting trials (accepting patients) found is shown. You may determine the number of trials to view by making more selections, or fewer selections. The search results are displayed as soon as you select any one of the search criteria.

What is a keyword?

A keyword is a word or phrase (several words) that you would like to find in the trial description. A phrase will match on the words exactly as you enter them. You separate the keywords/phrases by a comma to get only those trials that contain all the keywords/phrases you enter.

How do I use the Keyword search?

You may enter a single keyword or more than one keyword separated by commas. You may also enter a phrase with quotes (“ “) to search for a string of words in a particular order. Click the Search button to view trials containing your keywords or phrase. You may use the keyword search to find Trial Centres, Investigators, Cities, Protocol IDs, Sponsors and/or specific disease related phrases.

How can I find trials sponsored by a certain agency or drug manufacturer or protocol ID?

Enter the name of the sponsor, drug manufacturer and/or protocol ID in the Keywords or Phrases field.

I am getting too many trials from my search, how do I get fewer?

The criteria you are selecting may be too general. Enter more than one keyword or select a specific location or choose specific items from the guided navigation selection options (Refine your Search). On the Search Results page you may refine your search further by entering Age, choosing a Medical Condition and specifying any Previous Treatment. You can change the criteria until you find a number of trials that will be possible for you to review.

I only get a few trials from my search, how do I get more?

The criteria you are selecting may be too specific. Enter fewer keywords or use as few criteria as necessary to narrow your search. You can change the criteria until you find a number of trials that will be possible for you to review.

Why does the list of titles in the Search Results display trials that are not for the keyword(s) I entered?

The search is done against all the descriptive fields for the trial. The keyword(s) you entered may be referenced somewhere other than the title, such as the Exclusion Criteria for the trial.

How do I Save or Share a Search?

To share your search criteria on this computer you can click the Share button located at the left of the screen. You will be prompted to save this trial to your favourites, or to share this trial using email or other social networking sites such as Facebook, etc.

What if I need help while searching?

If you need help with your search or have a question about cancer or clinical trials, the Canadian Cancer Society’s Cancer Information Service (CIS) is just a phone call away. Call 1-888-939-3333 Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m, or send an email to info@cis.cancer.ca.

General

How do I sign up for Trial Alerts?

If you do not find a trial in your search today, you may ask to be notified by e-mail when a new trial for a selected type of cancer becomes available. You may click on the Sign up now link under Trial Alert on the homepage or under "Your Search Criteria" on the search results page.

How can I find out what all these scientific words mean?

There is a Glossary of Terms provided by the Canadian Cancer Society. You may access this from the Resource Centre in the right margin on the Search Results page.

Which browser do I need if I am using Windows?

It is recommended that you use Internet Explorer. This website will support Internet Explorer version 6 or higher, Firefox versions 1.5-2, Netscape version 8 on a Windows platform as well as the latest versions of Firefox, Safari and Opera on the Mac platform.

How can I comment on the use of this website?

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer Corporation welcomes your questions and comments. You can send us an e-mail at info@canadiancancertrials.ca.