Clinical trials: information for consumers

Information about clinical trials for consumers, health care providers, researchers, industry and sponsors is available from the National Health and Medical Research Council's Australian clinical trials website, which includes:

• How to be a part of a clinical trial: for anyone interested in being part of a clinical trial
• Find a clinical trial website: clinical trial sites, clinical trial networks, clinical trial resource organisations and disease/condition-specific support groups
• Clinical trial registries, many of which provide a mechanism for patients or others to register their interest in participating in an Australian clinical trial
• Phases of clinical trials: in the early phases the new intervention is tested in a small number of participants; it may then move to later phases where the number of participants is increased.

A factsheet, Consumer Guide to Clinical Trials, provides information on consumer participation in clinical trials and the clinical trials process from a consumer perspective. This factsheet was developed by the Consumers Health Forum of Australia in partnership with the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

Information about clinical trials is also available from Medicines Australia, an organisation that represents part of the pharmaceutical industry in Australia.