Clinical trials are studies that evaluate how well new drugs or treatments work. Each clinical trial is designed to find new or better ways to treat cancer patients. There are usually hundreds of clinical trials going on in the United States at any given time. Although clinical trials are an important part of cancer care and are needed for improving cancer treatment, fewer than five percent of cancer patients currently participate in clinical trials because they are uninterested, unaware that they exist or have difficulty finding an appropriate clinical trial that may benefit them.

The Research Department at New Mexico Cancer Center was developed to make clinical trials available as an option for our patients. Our Research Department educates patients about any clinical trials that may be available to them. We have a number of protocols in which we can enroll appropriate candidates.

If you are interested in a clinical trial, it is extremely important to decide whether or not to participate in a clinical trial before receiving any treatment from a physician. Once treatment has been started it may be too late to enroll in a clinical trial. To learn more about clinical trials, please click on any topic in the sidebar.