What Happens After a Clinical Trial Ends?
As a participant in a clinical trial, you may have questions about receiving treatment after the trial, follow-ups, and finding the results of your study.
What are the phases of a clinical trial?
A clinical trial must go through several phases of testing to analyze its safety and effectiveness before being approved for use.
- Phase 1: Researchers test a drug or treatment on a small group of participants (about 20 to 80) to determine its safety, side effects, and most effective dosage.
- Phase 2: A larger group of participants (about 100 to 300) help to further test the treatment's efficacy and safety on people with a certain condition.
- Phase 3: An even larger pool of participants (a few hundred or a few thousand) provide data on the effectiveness and safety of the treatment. Researchers test on different dosages and diverse populations, comparing the treatment to other approaches or a placebo. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determines whether they approve the treatment for use.
- Phase 4: After receiving approval by the FDA, the effects of the treatment on the general public continue to be monitored, as some side effects may not become clear until longer periods of time.
Depending on the results of your trial, your study may move on to the next phase of research or even be approved to be used by the general public.
Can I continue treatment after the trial ends?
Certain studies allow patients to continue their treatment even after the clinical trial ends. If the trial is in an early phase, the answer is likely no. The best way to find out is by talking to your care team.
What happens in the follow-up period?
Some trials will have a period of ongoing health check-ins to evaluate your health after the trial has ended. You may receive communication in the form of phone calls, emails, or online surveys. If you experience any new side effects or symptoms, report them to your care team. Your health matters, even after the last visit of the trial.
Will I get my results?
Usually participants do not receive their personal results at the end of a trial, but you can ask your care team for more information about your specific study. If published, you may search for the combined results of all the participants in your study.
When will the results of my study be published?
Trial results take time to be published -- some results may never be published publicly if a trial ends before completion. Participants may still be participating in the trial even after your trial period has ended, and trials can take months or even years. Companies are working on finding ways to make results accessible in a timely, responsible manner.
How can I find the study results?
The results of a study may be published in a peer-reviewed article, meaning it has been looked over by experts to make sure the analysis and conclusions are of good quality. You can ask your care team if the results have been or will be published, and where to find them.
If your study has been published, you can search for the name of the study or the Protocol ID number in the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database. You can also search for clinical studies on clinicaltrials.gov, which will have the results under the Study Results tab.