Clinical trials 53,54 are studies of new therapies to determine whether a medication is safe and whether it works. The medicines will usually be tested against another treatment called a control. This will either be a dummy treatment (a placebo) or a standard treatment already in use.

Clinical trial participation is sometimes offered to people with high-risk stage 2, stage 3, or stage 4 melanoma. People with persistent or recurrent melanoma may also be offered clinical trial participation.

As a participant in a clinical trial, you could be among the first to benefit from a new treatment. However, there is no guarantee of the outcome – there is a risk that the treatment being tested might only be as good or worse than the standard treatment currently available for your type of melanoma.

You may want to ask your doctor these questions about clinical trials:

• Are any clinical trials available that I could take part in?
• What tests and treatments are part of the study?
• What does the treatment aim to do? Will I know which treatment I receive?
• Has the study treatment been tested before? For what types of cancer?
• What are my other options? What are the benefits and risks?
• What does taking part in the study mean to my daily life?
• ACan I expect side effects during the study? Can they be prevented or treated?
• Does the study involve a hospital stay? If so, how often and for how long?

Talk to your doctor if you are interested in taking part in a clinical trial.

Clinical trial FAQs

ClinalTrials.gov 

Click HERE for a full list of REFERENCES numbers listed throughout the site (nos.1-58)