FDA Trials

I personally haven't been involved with clinical trials but I referred my sister for one for her depression and I seriously believe it saved her life. Only you can decide if the trial is right for you but if its a medicine that you can stop taking if you don't like it I would be more willing to go for that than say a new type of surgery that can't really be undone. I guess you just talk to your doctor and to the people running the trial then make the best decision you can.
Good luck.

I am currently participating in a clinical trial for the drug that will be marketed as Cimzia.  I am taking it primarily for Crohn's Disease but, since it is used for RA also, hoped that it would help with my arthritis (Crohn's related arthritis).  I have been on the trial for right at a year.  The trial lasted for 6 months and then I had the option to sign on for the long-term phase of the trial, which will last until the drug is available on the market (or rejected by the FDA- whichever happens).  I had some concern about taking a drug that had potentially unknown side effects but, since it is so similar to Humira, figured that most of the side effects would be the same as with Humira.  The drug helped tremendously until winter came and, since then, my arthritis has been killing me.  The only drawback to the trial is that they really limit what other drugs I can start taking (stuff I was already on is okay), as those could interfere with their results.  For instance, I can take arthritis medications, as long as they don't also help with Crohn's (which a lot of them can).  I am limited on how much steroids I can take, which has limited my ability to get cortisone injections.  But, other than that, I have no complaints with doing a clinical trial.  I get free medication, get paid for doing it, get to see a doctor and have blood work done every month, etc.  As long as it is in the late stages, so they are more aware of the side effects, I would say go for it...I would rather take a drug that could potentially shorten my life span (assuming that early death ended up being some horrible side effect) and have a better, less painful life, than live longer but be miserable the entire time. 

Hi,

I was on a study for Breast Cancer and the only advice I could give is to make sure you read everything you can.  The medication I was on removed any excess of estrogen that I may have been producing, even after a complete hysterectomy.  Not sure I can name the medication so I left it out.

I have been off of the study for about 3 months, my Oncologist feels that the med I was taking on the study may have caused the Rheumatoid Arthritis.  i did a lot of research before hand but the problem was RA was not listed as a possible side effect when you research the med but when you research RA one of the causes is a dramatic change in hormone levels.  I probably would have chosen to go one the study anyway because I have an 85% chance of having Breast CA return.    The care you receive on a study is excellent as well.

Do a lot of research and then you can make an informed decision.

Best of luck and keep posting to let us know how it goes.

Raven