Cancer handbook: How clinical trials are run
For more information on clinical trials, please see our clinical trials page on our Kids Research website.
Clincial trials page
There are three phases or parts to a clinical trial. These are usually completed one after the other.
Phase 1
Investigates the side effects of a new drug and determines the optimal dose of that drug
Phase 2
Studies the activity the new drug has against individual tumour types
Phase 3
Determines how effective the new drug is compared to standard therapy