Ad Clinical Trials: Should Your Loved One Participate In An Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial?

As a caregiver for an older adult with Alzheimer's Disease, you may wonder if having him or her join a clinical trial would be a good idea.

Perhaps, that might be a positive step for your loved one's prognosis. Consider this: without clinical trials, we would have no better treatments, no prevention and no cure for Alzheimer's disease. Researchers work constantly to find better ways to treat diseases, but improved treatments can never become a reality without testing in clinical trials with human volunteers.

Today, at least 50,000 volunteers, both with and without Alzheimer's disease, are urgently needed to participate in more than 100 actively enrolling clinical trials about Alzheimer's and related dementia. Other than funding, recruiting and retaining trial participants are now the greatest obstacles to developing the next generation of Alzheimer's treatments.

This is a discussion you both should have, particularly if the disease is in its early stage. Realize that clinical trials pose minimal risk, and that the Alzheimer's Association encourages participation. Keeping patients safe is the number one aspect of every Alzheimer's disease clinical trial. Patient safety is the most important aspect of every Alzheimer's disease clinical trial. Each study has an independent expert committee review the safety procedures. This helps ensure that patient safety is protected.

Trial participation also makes access to potential treatments possible for your loved one before they are widely available. You would be playing a more active role in your health care and receiving expert medical care at leading facilities. All participants receive regular care related to the trial and opportunities to talk to clinical trial staff.

There are a few risks involved with clinical trials. The experimental treatment might not work, and there may be unpleasant or even serious side effects related to the treatments being studied. Each study will review the details of risks to the participants and a consent form will need to be signed by the participant or his or her proxies.

Even if the treatment itself does not work, your loved one's condition may still improve. Studies show that those involved in clinical trials do better than people in similar stage of the disease that are not involved in clinical trials because of the high quality of care they are experiencing during the trial.