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Clinical Trials
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How do prescription medications make it to your local pharmacy |
The informative paperwork that comes with your prescriptions detailing instructions, side effects, and other important information is available to you because the medication underwent years of studies, both in the laboratory and in humans. Clinical trials are the vital step in verifying drug effects in humans, and are therefore very beneficial to the scientific community, individual study patients, and the medical world in general.
Should you participate in Clinical Trials?
Participating in Clinical Trials at The Parkinson’s Institute means joining a group of individuals with a common goal of finding new therapies for symptom control and hopefully one day a cure.
We conduct our Clinical Trials with the individuals' safety and best interest as our first priority. All studies are voluntary. A participant may leave the study at any time for any reason or may leave if the study doctor feels that the trial is no longer in the best interest of the volunteer.
Participants often feel they are more actively involved in their health care. Clinical Trial participation often provides more frequent monitoring by specialists and access to new research treatments. Often, there is no cost to the patient. Participation may be especially beneficial if you have found available treatments cause intolerable side-effects or no longer work for you.
Learn more about why you should participate in a Clinical Trial
What are the steps to becoming a Clinical Trials subject?
- Contact one of our coordinators using one of these three ways:
- Complete the Clinical Trials Volunteer Form
- Send an email to trials@thepi.org requesting to participate in clinical trial studies.
- Call Katharine Smith or Liza Infeld at 408-734-2800
- If you are a Parkinson's or Multiple Systems Atrophy (MSA) patient, once the coordinators have reviewed your eligibility for a study, you will be asked to request from your neurologist your medical records pertaining to Parkinson’s disease or MSA. These records should be sent to The Parkinson’s Institute (Attn: Katharine or Liza; Fax: 408-734-9208; 675 Almanor Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94085). This step is not necessary for anyone who is already a patient at The Parkinson’s Institute.
- After the coordinators have received and reviewed your records, either Katharine or Liza will contact you about your eligibility for current Clinical Trials and potentially schedule a Screening Visit at The Parkinson’s Institute. You may want to consider these Questions to Ask.