People living with cancer are encouraged to consider clinical trials when making treatment decisions with their doctors. A clinical trial is a research study that tests a new treatment to find out if it is safe, effective, and possibly better than the standard treatment. Clinical trials are important in the development of new ideas and therapies to slow, halt, and even prevent cancer.

The Internet is a valuable resource to learn more about clinical trials that are seeking volunteers to participate in a study. The Web-based matching services described below collect information on thousands of clinical trials and may help you find an appropriate one by asking a few questions about you and your cancer. Be sure to talk with your doctor before and after using these tools to discuss your options and to learn more about investigational treatments. Before enrolling in a clinical trial, understand the benefits and risks of participating in one and ask the research team questions.

TrialCheck: The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) collaborates with the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups, a nonprofit organization of cancer clinical trial specialists, to offer the Coalition’s TrialCheck clinical trials matching service on Cancer.Net. A cooperative group is a large network of doctors and other health-care professionals from many different institutions that develop and coordinate clinical trials.

You can search for clinical trials on TrialCheck in various ways:

Trial screening questionnaire. Answer a series of questions about yourself, such as your zip code, type of cancer, treatment history, and health condition. The answers to these questions help determine your eligibility for specific clinical trials. Other eligibility factors may include your age, race, gender, and stage of cancer. After you submit answers, clinical trials seeking volunteer participants with your characteristics are listed in order of closeness to your home.

Hospital or practice look up. Enter the name of a specific hospital or health-care practice to see what clinical trials are available at those locations.

Clinical trial listing. Search for a specific clinical trial by entering the protocol ID (unique identification number), the study’s title, or the name of the investigational drug or therapy.

TrialCheck is also available on the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) website, and visitors may call clinical trial specialists at ACS (877-227-8451) for further help in locating suitable clinical trials through TrialCheck.

EmergingMed Navigator: This company’s clinical trials matching service, located at www.emergingmed.com, offers both a phone (877-601-8601) and Web tool that matches a person’s specific diagnosis, stage of cancer, and treatment history with clinical trials conducted by NCI and other government agencies, in addition to drug and biotechnology companies.

Visitors to EmergingMed Navigator are also matched to clinical trials by filling out a profile and answering questions about themselves and their cancer. In addition to asking demographic questions, such as age, gender, and race, the questionnaire asks other items, including your daily activity level (selections range on a scale from “fully active” to “disabled”), whether the cancer has metastasized (spread) to other parts of the body, and the amount of time passed since you received various types of treatments. Only an e-mail address is required to fill out a profile.

After the service lists clinical trials that match your profile, you may request an EmergingMed clinical trial specialist to contact you by phone or e-mail. The clinical trial specialists provide educational and emotional support about the clinical trials process and may ask more questions to help determine your eligibility for a specific clinical trial. The specialist may also answer your questions and connect you directly to a clinical trial coordinator to enroll in a study.

You may also browse EmergingMed Navigator for clinical trials without supplying any specific information about your diagnosis.

Both TrialCheck and EmergingMed Navigator offer the option of viewing information about phase I clinical trials, which is the first test of the dosing and safety, but not necessarily effectiveness, of a new treatment in people. People who participate in phase I clinical trials are often the first to receive a new investigational therapy. Sometimes, people whose cancers have not responded to previous treatments are offered participation in phase I clinical trials. Learn more about the phases of clinical trials.

Clinical trial matching services provide information to bring together volunteers and studies, but these tools do not directly enroll volunteers in clinical trials. Once you have found a clinical trial that you would like to join and have discussed the study with your doctor, contact the onsite clinical trial coordinator to enroll.

The role and promise of clinical trials

A person with cancer may decide to participate in a clinical trial for several reasons. Sometimes, a clinical trial may be the best treatment option available. Or, a person may want to help contribute to the development of new therapies even if he or she does not benefit directly from participating. Even a person without cancer may take part in a prevention clinical trial that helps researchers find better ways to prevent cancer and other diseases in people who may be at higher risk, or to find less invasive ways to diagnose cancer more quickly and reliably.

Clinical trials are the standard of care for the treatment of children with cancer, and more than 60% of them are treated as part of a clinical trial. This high rate of participation in pediatric clinical trials is one reason why the five-year survival rate (the percentage of patients who survive at least five years after the cancer is detected, excluding those who die from other diseases) of children with cancer is now nearly 80%, compared with 58% three decades ago.

Despite myths, a person should consider a clinical trial at the time of diagnosis, not only when all other treatments have stopped working. Many clinical trials only accept volunteers who have received little treatment before enrolling. So, the sooner you consider participating in a clinical trial, the more options you may have in participating in one.

Additional Resources

Another option to find clinical trials appropriate for you is to contact patient advocacy organizations for your type of cancer. Some of these organizations collaborate with the above matching services to help people find clinical trials. To find an organization, visit Cancer.Net: Patient Information Resources.

The following websites also offer listings of clinical trials. They are not matching services, but they can be helpful in finding clinical trials that are enrolling new participants. The NCI offers a searchable database of its more than 6,000 cancer clinical trials that are funded by the agency.

ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, offers a searchable database of federally and privately sponsored clinical trials in the United States and around the world that are investigating treatments for cancer and other diseases.

CenterWatch, a publishing and information services company for the clinical trials industry, lists information about clinical trials available in a variety of medical areas, including cancer.

More Information

Cancer.Net Podcast: What are Clinical Trials?

Cancer.Net: Clinical Trials and Older Adults

ASCO Expert Corner: Informed Consent