How to Join Arthritis Clinical Trials

Sometimes, the arthritis medication you have been taking is just not doing the trick. Other times, a medicine that has worked well for you for years suddenly stops being effective, for no apparent reason. When circumstances like these happen, you may need a new line of defense against your arthritis symptoms. You need to learn how to join arthritis clinical trials.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Ask your rheumatologist about clinical trials. Rheumatologists tend to stay up to date on recent and upcoming advancements in arthritis treatment and may know of clinical trials at both the national and local level. Make sure you ask which ones your rheumatologist thinks would be appropriate for you.
2. Check with The Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center website. This website lists all of the upcoming and ongoing arthritis clinical trials at the Johns Hopkins medical center. There is a comprehensive description of each clinical trial, along with the criteria you need to meet to join it.
3. Visit the Clinical Trials.gov website. This website lists government medical trials that are being conducted now, as well as those that are upcoming. There are extensive descriptions of the trials, as well as comprehensive lists of things that would disqualify you from taking part.
4. Read about ongoing arthritis clinical trials at the Mayo Clinic clinical trials website. You can view participation requirements and apply to join the trials of your choice.
5. Look in your local newspaper. Hospitals, doctors and clinics in your area often advertise small, clinical trials in the pages of newspapers. These ads are located throughout the newspaper and include contact information.

Tips & Warnings

• Not everyone who applies to join a clinical trial will be accepted into it. Clinical trials have stringent participation requirements. Certain things like past use of particular medications, your age or the length of time you have had arthritis can all factor in to whether or not you will be admitted for participation in the trial.
• Be aware that arthritis clinical trials are for new treatments. Testing the efficacy of these treatments and monitoring any side effects that crop up is the purpose of arthritis clinical trials. Therefore, there is no guarantee the treatment will work for you. You will also have to sign a waiver releasing the clinic from any liability, should you develop side effects from the treatment after you join the clinical trial.

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