Understanding Cancer Trials

A Patient's Guide

What a cancer trial actually involves, in plain language: how trials are organized, what randomization and placebo mean in cancer care, the questions worth asking, and what consent gives you the right to expect. General education — not medical advice, and not a way to join a study.

24 lessons, about 79 minutes. Free, in your language.

Starting from where you are

How cancer trials are organized

Standard care, the trial arm, and equipoise

Randomization and placebo

Eligibility and biomarkers

The practical burden

The people, your safety, and your rights

Endings, and questions to take with you