FAQs

What are Clinical Trials?

Clinical trials are research programs that are designed to evaluate medical treatments, drugs, devices and tools. Their primary purpose is to identify new and improved ways to treat and diagnose diseases.

How are the trials chosen?

Dr. Jacobs and his team exclusively choose clinical trials featuring medications and treatments that they believe are safe.

For example, we usually select studies if:

• The treatment is very similar to approved options already on the market such as generic versions of brand name medications.
• The drug is already FDA-approved, but is being evaluated for a new use.
• The drug is currently approved in another country.
• The medication being tested has already been given to people in early phase trials and did not show significant risk or side effects in those early phase trials.

Patients do need to keep in mind that there are potentially serious risks and side effects to all medications whether already FDA approved or under investigation. Prior to participation in any clinical trial, patients are provided with a document called the Informed Consent Form (ICF). This document describes in detail all the information regarding the potential risks and benefits of the medication under investigation in addition to all visits and procedures involved in the specific trial.

What are the benefits of participating in a clinical trial?

Your participation helps the medical community develop medicines that can better treat and potentially cure chronic diseases.

What are the different clinical trial phases?

Clinical trials are conducted in four distinct phases that allow our physicians to answer different questions about the efficacy and safety of the drug or treatment. At Unison, we primarily focus on phase III and phase IV trials.

Phase I

These are experimental trials that are performed on a small group of healthy people to evaluate a brand new drug’s safety and side effects for the first time.

Phase II

Once a treatment or drug has passed its phase I trials, it will be given to a slightly larger group of people who have the disease intended to be treated or controlled by the study drug to assess its effectiveness and confirm its safety.

Phase III

In phase III trials, the drug or treatment will be administered to an even larger group of people to confirm its effectiveness, gain more information regarding side effects and optimal dose and collect critical safety information.

Phase IV

These post-marketing trials are designed to acquire additional information regarding risks, benefits and best uses for an already approved drug.

How do I qualify for a clinical trial?

To qualify for one of our exciting clinical trials, simply join our patient database! Each clinical trial features unique inclusion or exclusion criteria, so if you believe you may qualify for one of our trials that are currently recruiting participants then join our database and contact us by phone to find out if you may qualify. If none of our actively recruiting trials are relevant to your particular medical issues then simply join our database and we will be sure to get in touch with you when we have a trial for which you may qualify.

Please remember that health insurance and citizenship or residency documentation are not needed for participation. In addition, you will receive payment in compensation for your time and travel.