10 Clinical Trial Myths — Debunked by a Research Physician
Key Takeaways
- Most clinical trials today study common conditions like type 2 diabetes and obesity, and many enroll relatively healthy adults.
- Most U.S. clinical trials are approved and monitored by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) that protects participants' rights and safety (NIH).
- Joining a clinical trial is voluntary, and participants can leave a study at any time (NIH).
- A clinical trial participant's own doctor stays their primary care provider, and the research team adds to that care.
- At Mission Research Institute in Gilbert, AZ, study visits, tests, and medication are provided at no cost, and participants are compensated for time and travel.
Clinical research has an image problem. Despite decades of scientific progress and strict federal regulations, many patients still imagine clinical trials as risky experiments conducted on uninformed participants. The reality could not be more different — but clinical trial myths persist, and they prevent patients from accessing care that could genuinely help them.
Dr. Sunildat Maheshwari has been participating in clinical research since 2019. Here are ten of the most
common clinical trial myths he hears — and the facts that replace them.
Myth 1: Clinical trials are a last resort for people who have run out of options.
Myth 2: I could be given a placebo and receive no treatment at all.
Myth 3: Clinical trials are only done at big university hospitals.
Fact: The majority of clinical research in the United States is conducted at community-based research sites — places like Mission Research Institute in Gilbert, AZ — that are close to where patients actually live and work. Community sites are essential because they reflect the real-world patient population better than academic centers.
Myth 4: My personal doctor will be cut out of my care.
Fact: Your personal physician remains your primary care provider. Our research team supplements that relationship, does not replace it. We encourage participants to keep their personal doctors fully informed throughout any study, and we coordinate with them as needed.
Myth 5: Clinical trials are dangerous experiments.
Before any investigational drug is tested in humans, it goes through years of laboratory and animal safety studies. Phase I trials then carefully test safety in a small number of people before moving to larger groups. Every study at Mission Research Institute is reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) — an independent ethics committee that protects participants’ rights and safety — before it begins, and the IRB continues to oversee the study while it runs. Studies of investigational drugs and devices must also follow FDA regulations.
