Trial Participants: Informed Consent, GCP, Patient Involvement

Healthcare professionals may recommend clinical research as a treatment option for their patients. However a patient may also ask their healthcare professional about clinical research, and whether it might be right for them. Sometimes clinical trials are the only way to provide therapy to patients in serious need. This is still practiced in HIV/AIDS. Early access programs may be too slow or cumbersome, but a trial can save several lives.

In the UK the ‘OK to ask’ campaign is run by the National Institute for Health Research and is aimed at promoting the fact that it’s good to ask about clinical research.