At For the Breast of Us, we believe increasing representation of women of color in clinical trials is one sure way to help close the health disparity gap. That’s why we’ve partnered with our friends at the Fred Hutch Office of Community Engagement to answer questions about clinical trials and give you a clear understanding of how they work and how your participation helps not only you, but every woman affected by breast cancer.

A common misconception about clinical trials is that you may be the one who’s chosen not to receive cancer treatment. The Fred Hutch Office of Community Engagement shares the truth about the design of clinical trials.

It all depends on the design of the trial [also known as studies]. Any cancer clinical trial tests new ways to find cancer, treat cancer, prevent cancer, or cope with side effects from cancer or the treatment itself. The most common type of trial that many patients and their families are familiar with is a cancer treatment clinical trial. These trials are designed to answer questions about new treatments or ways of using existing treatments better. For cancer patients looking into participating in a cancer treatment clinical trial, it’s important to find out which type of treatment trial you would like to participate in. These trials test many types of treatments, such as:

• New drugs or vaccines

• New ways to do surgery or give radiation therapy

• New combinations of existing treatments

This is a different story from what has been commonly thought of when it comes to clinical trials: who gets the new treatment and who gets “the sugar pill.” It’s what they refer to as the placebo. The placebo is designed to look like the medicine being tested, but it is not active. The good news is that placebos nowadays are rarely used in cancer treatment clinical trials. They are used when there is no standard treatment for certain cancers or new diseases. Or, they may be used in a clinical trial that compares standard usual treatment plus a placebo (the control group), with standard usual treatment plus a new treatment (investigational group).

Say you or a loved one are taking part in a cancer treatment clinical for stage 3 breast cancer testing a new drug; either you would be put in the investigational group that has the usual standard treatment plus the new drug or in the control group that has the usual standard drug plus the placebo. Using a placebo in this way can help prevent patients and their doctors from figuring out which treatment group they were assigned to. Otherwise, doctors could not be sure whether your results were due to the treatment being studied or the earlier treatment.

So, can you choose which group to be in? Not exactly. Through a process called randomization, a computer system will randomly place people into the two different groups so that bias is prevented. One example of bias is putting all the “healthy patients” in the investigational group and sicker patients to the control group, without knowing. This might affect trial results. Randomization helps ensure that this does not happen.

All in all, you would still be receiving treatment during a cancer treatment clinical trial.

To learn more about clinical trials and where to find them, visit breastofus.com/clinical-trials.

*All clinical trial related content was obtained from the National Cancer Institute at www.cancer.gov

About The Fred Hutch Office of Community Engagement

The Office of Community Outreach & Engagement (OCOE) is housed within the Fred Hutch/University of Washington Cancer Consortium. The OCOE is dedicated to cancer prevention and to reduce/eliminate barriers to cancer care and support. Our four community health educators and advocates: Dillon van Rensberg, Liszet Bigelow, Danté Morehead, and Craig Dee (Diné), are focused on connecting with partners in public health, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC’s), community-based organizations, communities, and researchers to address cancer-health disparities and inequities here in Western Washington. The OCOE brings together years of health disparities research, experience, and leadership in addressing cancer prevention and education.