As the
co-author who has cancer and has participated in clinical trials, I tend to see
the patient/participant side of clinical trials more than the medical side. I
have participated in three clinical trials and my life has changed in ways not
built into the study plan.
I’ll
explain. My first trial, more than 15 years ago, was a prostate cancer
prevention study. It was a double blind placebo study—half the men got an
experimental medicine and half got a pill that was neutral (sugar pill). Nobody
knew who got which pill—not the participants, doctors, or nurses. It turns out
I took a placebo for several years. My PSA (a potential marker of prostate
cancer) was in the normal range throughout the study.
At the end
of the study I was offered a free prostate biopsy and agreed to have it. A
prostate biopsy takes tissue samples from your prostate by injecting hollow
needles through your colon and into your prostate. I never said it was fun. The
bottom line was: even though my PSA was normal, the biopsy found a rather large
and fast growing tumor. I started treatment shortly thereafter. Without the
biopsy it may have been a few years before I was diagnosed, and possibly at a
much later and more dangerous stage.
In a second
clinical trial, everybody took the experimental drug and it didn’t seem to work
for anybody. No harm—no foul.
My third
trial was a six month strength building program for men with prostate cancer
and their spouses—10 couples in our group.
