Just a week or two ago, Extraordinary Measures, starring Harrison Ford and Brendon fraser was released. This movie is based on a book, The Cure, by Geeta Anand and is about the struggles of a couple who go all out to find a cure for their sons's rare disease (pompe's disease) along with a scientist. And that got me to write this as despite efforts only 14% of Americans know what clinical research/trials are.

If you or your family or loved one has a medical condition (say prostate cancer) and you are looking for new/experimental treatments, then you may want to look into clinical trials. Clinical trials are studies done to investigate new treatments and in many cases offer hope to patients who may otherwise not be getting cured from existing treatments. In fact no drug/device can be approved without such studies and by participating in such studies, one can get several benefits such as;

1. Get access to latest treatment for free
2. Receive expert medical care as part of the study for free care
3. Depending on the trial, receive some compensation for time and effort (this is not a payment but a small compensation fee)
4. Help further science.

In essence research participants are no less than research heroes. Every year thousands of trials are conducted for all sorts of diseases. For instance, there are more than 500 trials just for breast cancer. There are three clinical trials for Pompes' Disease. There is even a clinical trial going on for progeria (rarest of rare diseases in which a person ages very quickly. Only 50-80 patients exist all over the world).

Surveys have shown that more than 80% of patients would like to enroll in a clinical trial if they had the right information. Only 3% of cancer patients currently enroll in such studies.

Several sites exist for patients to find trials like the government's ClinicalTrials.Gov. Newer sites provide several more feature than a simple listing. For example, TrialX.com makes it as easy as 1-2-3 for patients to find a clinical trial near them and connect with the trial investigators. You can find a trial for a given condition, filter results based on your age, gender, location and other health information. And importantly, you can email the matching trial doctors in a few simple clicks. The system even drafts the emails for you. In fact you can start searching for a trial right from their widget (see below). And if you happen to have an iPhone then you can check out their Clinical Trials App that allows you to find trials near you right from the phone.   Again, this is not to say clinical trials have not had their share of controversies. Yes there have been cases of neglect and misuse of patients but trials today are heavily monitored by regulatory and ethical committees.

I hope there are folks out here who may find this information useful. And if you have friends who are looking for trials, help spread the word. Help accelerate the next big cure.

Image Credit- mosar-sic.org