Male Speaker: When Charlene Wallace was first diagnosed with cancer, her doctor suggested she participle in a clinical trial, testing a promising new cancer therapy.
Charlene Wallace: Initially I was apprehensive thinking clinical trial, no don't try anything on me.
Male Speaker: Eventually she saw the wisdom and at least considering joining the trial. But, before she actually took part, she needed to deal with an awful part of the past.
Charlene Wallace: When I think about clinical trials, the first thing that comes to mind is the Tuskegee study,
Male Speaker: Tuskegee was a U.S. government syphilis study from the 1930's until 1972. Nearly 400 African-American men took part. But, to measure its effects over time, the men were never told they had the disease and its symptoms were never treated. Decades later, when the study was revealed, 28 men had died.
Charlene Wallace: And I think about what was done during that time, how people were treated and I think how unfortunate it was and how unfortunate that it's still embedded in the African-American community.
Ellen Sigal: There are cultural barriers. The African-American community remembers Tuskegee.
Male Speaker: Ellen Sigal works to educate people about the concept of clinical trials.
Ellen Sigal: The first thing that people have to understand is that before a patient ever gets enrolled in a clinical trial or a clinical trial ever gets approved there are many layers of approval many layers.
Male Speaker: Researchers say they days of a Tuskegee-like debacle are gone forever. Today, clinical trials designed to test therapies and treatments that have shown promise in the laboratory are scrutinized for patient safety and protection issues long before the actual trial gets underway. Experts say this close monitoring is often missing when patients are treated with standard therapies.
Dr. James Atkins: When you're treated off a clinical trial, nobody collects the data, nobody knows how many people respond, nobody knows how many people had side effects, nobody knows anything, other than that one doctor.
Male Speaker: Participating in a clinical trial is voluntary. But participation rates are so low that many experts believe patients aren't getting the proper information about which clinical trials may be available and how they might benefit from them.
Dr. James Atkins: I guess my main concern is that, because I'm one who believes that clinical trials represents the cutting edge in medicine and because 3% of patients go on clinical trials, I have questions about whether all of the options or the options are really presented to the patients.
Male Speaker: Dr. Atkins recalls how AIDS patients came out in droves for clinical trials. That, he says, led to dramatic progress with treatment.
Dr. James Atkins: They knew that was going to be the cutting edge, they knew that's where the new drugs were.
Male Speaker: Charlene decided to join that clinical trial and today considers herself a clinical trial success story.
Charlene Wallace: It's a great feeling, it's a great feeling, it's a feeling of survival, sure it's a feeling of empowering myself, empowering others, to let people know that, hey, this is a battle we can absolutely win.
Male Speaker: Researchers hope that as the number of volunteers increases, more new discoveries to fight cancer will follow.
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