why Trials Are Important

Advancing Cancer Care

A clinical trial is a research study involving human volunteers that is designed to answer specific health questions. Clinical trials are the safest and most effective way to study breast cancer prevention, to improve breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, and to address the needs of breast cancer survivors.

How Clinical Trials Have Improved Breast Cancer Care

Over the past four decades, clinical trials have resulted in significant advances in every aspect of breast cancer care. Learn more about the progress we have made in this excellent interactive timeline developed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

How You Can Benefit

By participating in a clinical trial you may:

• Receive innovative treatment that may become standard therapy in the future
• Gain access to experimental drugs or procedures when standard therapies are no longer effective
• Contribute to medical research that may benefit future generations

If you participate in a clinical trial, you will receive either the standard of care—the most effective known treatment available—or a promising, experimental treatment.You may personally benefit if the experimental treatment is found to be better than the current standard of care. But it’s also possible that the new treatment may not be better than the standard of care. Or, the researchers may find that only select groups of people benefit from the new treatment, and you may, or may not, be one of those people. What you will get is quality care and an opportunity to contribute to and advance breast cancer research.