A clinical trial is a type of research — also called interventional research — that follows certain government guidelines for testing drugs on people. Researchers observe how the drug affects the body under highly controlled conditions and whether the treatment is helpful.
Finding the results of a trial that you or your child participated in online is not difficult, but you will have to be patient about getting the results. It can take researchers at least a year to analyse the data collected during the study, depending on how complex it was. Once the analysis is complete, researchers may take another year to publish the findings in a journal.
Of course, the easiest way to find out the progress of your clinical trial is to talk to your research coordinator or your CF clinician. If you or your child participated in an interventional trial, the study sponsor will provide information on who received the treatment and who received the placebo (inactive substance) to your CF research team once the trial has been completed. Your research coordinator will be able to share the results with you.
You can track the clinical trial progress online where the status of the phases are regularly updated, or sign up for an email alert.
After a clinical trial is completed, the study sponsor must decide whether the results warrant further research. If not, the trial might end with your participation.
Although that particular treatment may not have succeeded, your participation will have given valuable information to researchers, who will be able to refocus their efforts on more promising therapies.