See also information on Open Clinical Trials at the BC Cancer Agency. The following section contains general information about clinical research.

Introduction

Cancer clinical research may be focused on developing better ways to prevent, detect, or treat cancer, or on better ways to treat the symptoms of cancer.

Clinical trials are the usual way in which new tests, drugs, devices, techniques, or combinations of treatments are assessed. Although much work has already been done to understand cancer better, and to identify useful treatments, researchers and physicians treating cancer are always interested in obtaining better results for individuals with or at risk for cancer. For cancers with few treatment options currently, we hope to identify more potential therapies. Even for cancers with many treatment options, we hope to identify therapies which will work better in some way than current treatments, perhaps by being effective in more patients, or working longer, or having fewer side effects.

Improvements in treatments start with a recognition of a problem. Researchers then work to understand the basis of the problem and to develop theories about how to overcome it.

This leads to the development in the laboratory of potential new therapies, which then undergo a series of vital research steps in the lab. This might include tests of a new drug on cancer cells in a device, container, or dish, and might include tests of a new drug in a small number of animals.

If sufficient promise is seen with a new treatment in the lab, laboratory researchers and clinical researchers come together to develop ways to carefully test the new treatment in humans. The process of developing and testing new potential treatments in the lab takes many years, and many ideas will not result in a new treatment for testing, if problems with effectiveness or safety are determined at this early stage of research.

You can view an online video that was created by staff at BC Cancer Agency's Fraser Valley Centre, to offer another potential aid to patients in understanding the importance of, and some of the relevant issues regarding, clinical research. The video is available on the Online Video page of the Living Well with Cancer website.