Clinical Trials: Why Volunteer?
What Are Clinical Trials? Clinical trial is the scientific term for a test or study of a drug or medical device in people. Clinical trials are done to see if the drug or device is safe and effective for people to use. Doctors and other health professionals run the tests according to strict rules set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is part of the United States government. It is FDA’s job to make sure medical treatments are safe and effective for people to use. FDA sets the rules to make sure that people who agree to be in the studies are treated as safely as possible. Why Should Minorities And Women Participate In Clinical Trials? In the past, most drug testing has been done on white men. This means that some groups, have not always been included in the tests done on drugs, such as: • African Americans • Hispanic Americans • American Indians • Asian Americans • Women But sometimes drugs work differently on people in
