As an epidemiologist who is also a person with MS, I pretty much “geeked out” on the Clinical Trials Database site. Even though I am not currently interested in joining a clinical trial myself, I spent a long time just looking at what is “in the pipeline.” I then had to see what research my neurologist and his clinic were involved in, and then looked at the other local docs, trying to figure out where there is collaboration and where there is competition. I was also really interested in which trials were comparing their new drug to “standard of care” (one of the existing disease-modifying therapies) and which were placebo-controlled trials (meaning the participant receives either the new drug or a “placebo” which is designed to look like the drug in trial, but is really nothing).
Anyway, visit the site and see for yourself. If you are interested in joining a clinical trial, this is the place to start. Even if you aren’t, you may be encouraged to see just how much research is being done to find a better treatment for MS.
Sponsors
The Clinical Trials Database is a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).What Can You Learn on the Clinical Trials Database:
The Clinical Trials Database is designed for you to be able to locate a trial for MS (or any other disease) by:- Investigator
- Type of MS
- Institution
- Geographic location
- Specific drug name
- Status (not yet recruiting, recruiting, closed, completed)
- Sponsor
Once you open a listing up, you will be able to see very specific information, including:
- Participating institutions and investigators and contact information
- Inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Details about the study, including duration, monitoring, outcome measures (what they are looking for)
- Start and end dates for the study
Additional Services
- Frequently asked questions about clinical trials
- Definitions of important clinical trials terms
- Links to press releases about completed or ongoing trials
- Link to abstracts of published results of clinical trials in PubMed
