FACT SHEET: SHOULD I TAKE PLACE IN A CLINICAL TRIAL?

On International Clinical Trials Day, the Cancer Cooperative Trials Groups (CCTG) of Australia have come together to release a fact sheet for those interested in taking part in a clinical trial.

The fact sheet titled ‘Should I Take Part in a Clinical Trial?’ was produced by 14 cancer trials groups based in Australia and New Zealand, in consultation with consumer representatives and patients. Its aim is to encourage participation in this important research.

There are a number of reasons why people decide to participate in a clinical trial, such as: to help others, to help researchers gain new knowledge about how to treat cancer, to improve patient care, to possibly access and gain benefit from a new treatment, and to receive additional monitoring of your health throughout the life of the trial.

To view the fact sheet, which was facilitated by the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, please click here.

The Australia and New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZBCTG) is the largest, independent, oncology clinical trials research group in Australia and New Zealand. For more than 35 years, the ANZBCTG has conducted a national clinical trials research program for the treatment, prevention and cure of breast cancer.

The ANZBCTG’s research program involves multicentre clinical trials, with 87 institutions and over 700 researchers throughout Australia and New Zealand. More than 14,000 women have participated in ANZBCTG breast cancer clinical trials.

The fundraising department of the ANZBCTG is the Breast Cancer Institute of Australia (BCIA). For more information about the ANZBCTG, visit the website www.anzbctg.org.

Media contact: Anna Fitzgerald, ANZBCTG Communications Manager Phone: 02 4925 5255 or 0400 304 224 or Email: anna.fitzgerald@anzbctg.org

The fact sheet answers the following common questions:

• What are clinical trials?
• Why should I take part in a clinical trial?
• Is a trial suitable for me?
• Who are the Cancer Cooperative Trials Groups?

The fact sheet highlights the importance of clinical trials to advance research knowledge and treatments available:

• All major advances in cancer have come through clinical trials.
• Clinical trials can improve treatments for people diagnosed with cancer in the future.
• Without clinical trials, there would be no new treatments or prevention strategies.
• Clinical trials may be suitable for people at all stages of their cancer journey.