What does is mean if the clinical trial is phase 1, phase 2, or phase 3?
Each phase represents a progression that starts with testing a new intervention in humans and ends with proving that the intervention is the best. If it is the best, it becomes part of the new standard of care for that cancer. The various phases of a clinical trial also affect these 2 issues. • The scientific questions being asked • The number and type of patients who can be part of the trial Phase 1 Clinical Trials. A phase 1 clinical trial generally involves a new product or drug that has shown some promise in animal studies. Phase 1 trials test the new product in humans. The goal of these trials is to answer the questions: “What is the right dose and what is the right way to use the drug in future trials?” Sometimes, phase 1 cancer trials accept patients who don’t have the same type of cancer. That’s because the goal of these trials is to learn how to use the new drug in humans. Although some study participants may benefit from the new drug, the study’s goal is not to measure how we
