JustClinical — research sites in the UK and the US
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Investigator explaining a study to a volunteer You decide
The basics

Somebody volunteered first

Every medicine in your bathroom cabinet is there because people agreed to try it before you needed it. That is not a sentimental point, it is just how the system works.

A clinical study tests a treatment in people to answer a narrow question: does it work, how safely, at what dose, and for whom. Studies run in phases, each one asking something more specific than the last, and every phase needs approval from an independent ethics committee before it can start.

When you take part with us you see an investigator — a qualified doctor — for examinations, tests and whatever else the protocol calls for. Your coordinator is a person with a name and a direct number, not a call centre queue. It should feel like being looked after, because that is what it is meant to be.

Step by step

What actually happens

Seven stages, from the first phone call to the last follow-up. You can stop at any one of them.

1

Pre-screening

A phone call, usually about fifteen minutes, covering the study and a bit of your medical history. Nothing is decided here. It exists so nobody wastes a journey.

2

Informed consent

You get the information sheet to take home. When you have read it, an investigator goes through it with you, answers whatever you ask, and only then asks you to sign. You can undo that signature later.

3

Screening visit

A fuller check at the site — examination, bloods, and whatever else the protocol needs — to confirm you fit the study. Plenty of people do not, and that is an ordinary outcome, not a verdict on your health.

4

Joining the study

If you are eligible and still want to go ahead, you are enrolled and put into a treatment group. In many studies that is decided at random and may include a placebo. You will know that before you consent, not after.

5

Study visits

Days, weeks or months apart depending on the trial. You get the full schedule up front and a reminder before each one. Reasonable travel costs are paid back.

6

Follow-up

After your last dose we check in, by phone or in person, to see how you are. This part matters as much as the treatment phase and it is not a formality.

7

Finished

Your part is done. Where the sponsor allows it we write and tell you what the study found. You stay on our register only if you want to.

Your rights

Six things no study can take away

To walk away

At any time, without a reason, and with no effect on your usual care.

To ask anything

As many times as you need, until the answer actually makes sense to you.

To take it home

Read the information sheet with your family, or your GP, before you decide anything.

To be told of new risks

If safety information changes mid-study, you hear about it and may be asked to consent again.

To privacy

The sponsor never gets your name. To them you are a number. To us you are a person.

To complain

To us, to the ethics committee, or to the regulator — and to be taken seriously by all three.

Common questions

The things people really ask

It depends on the study, and anyone who answers that question with a flat yes is overselling it. The same legal and ethical duties that cover ordinary medical care cover clinical trials. An independent committee reviews the protocol before it starts, and safety information is watched throughout. But trials involve treatments that are still being investigated, which means they may not work and may cause effects nobody has documented yet. The consent process exists so you understand what those risks are for the particular study in front of you, before you agree to anything.
You might. A lot of studies compare a new treatment against a placebo or against the current standard treatment, and which group you go into is usually decided at random. If placebo is a possibility, we tell you during consent, along with roughly what the chances are. In most trials you carry on with your existing prescriptions unless the protocol specifically says otherwise, and we talk that through with you first.
No. Study visits, assessments and the treatment itself are free to you. We pay back reasonable travel costs, and some studies offer payment for your time. If there is a payment, we tell you what it is up front, and it is never set up in a way that makes it hard to leave.
Yes, whenever you like, without explaining yourself. Leaving a study does not affect your GP, your consultant, or any treatment you get anywhere else. We will usually ask whether we can keep the information already collected, and you are free to say no to that as well.
Your name and contact details stay with the site. What goes to the sponsor is coded, so to them you are a participant number. UK participants are covered by UK GDPR and US participants by HIPAA, and data stays in the country it was collected in. The detail is in our privacy policy and in the information sheet for your specific study.
With your permission, yes. We normally write to your GP or physician so they know you are in a trial, which stops them prescribing something that might clash with the study treatment. If you would rather we did not, say so and we will talk through what that means.

Ask us something else

Thinking about taking part in a study?

Volunteers get time with a doctor, a closer look at their own condition, and access to treatments that are not available yet. Registering takes a few minutes and you are free to walk away at any point.

Join a Study

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