Cancer clinical trials: Five myths worth busting

As a participant in a clinical trial, Mike McReynolds of Fort Worth could be one of the first patients with gliobastoma (a type of brain tumor) to benefit from a brand-new treatment.

Or not.

He could be getting a placebo. And no ones guaranteeing the new treatment works.

But McReynolds, 69, jokingly calls his decision to join the clinical trial a no-brainer. Almost two years after diagnosis, hes feeling good and working full time, and he credits the trial.

Many more cancer patients stand to benefit from clinical trials, and with hundreds of anti-cancer drugs in the pipeline, researchers could make faster progress if more volunteered. But less than 3 percent of adult cancer patients in the United States participate in clinical trials, according to the National Cancer Institute. Many doctors dont encourage patients to volunteer, and patients fear theyll compromise their treatment if they do.

But clinical trials for cancer dont work the way many assume. Here are some misconceptions and some facts.

Myth No. 1: Placebo means no treatment.

Many patients are scared off from clinical trials out of fear theyll get a placebo, says Dr. Karen L. Fink, a neuro-oncologist at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas.

But placebo doesnt mean no treatment, she says. In most cancer-related clinical trials, you get the best available therapy, plus you have a chance of getting a new treatment as well.

Fink is conducting the clinical trial that McReynolds joined, testing whether a vaccine called ICT-107 will stimulate the immune system to kill tumor cells. Because its a randomized, double-blind study, only 2 out of 3 participants actually receive the vaccine; others get a placebo.

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Cancer clinical trials: Five myths worth busting