Costs

Some trials aim to compare the costs of different treatments. A new drug may seem very expensive because it has to take into account the huge amount of time and effort that went into its development. However, the drug may help to reduce the costs of other parts of the treatment. For example, there are new drugs that can help boost the number of white blood cells and reduce the risk of infection for people having intensive chemotherapy. They are very expensive but they may reduce the time patients would otherwise need to spend in hospital due to infections. In such cases, the price of the drug may be less than the cost of the hospital care.

Ethics committees will make sure that the structure of a trial does not put pressure on people to take part in order for them to have an expensive drug which would otherwise not be available to them.

Some clinical trials include questions which aim to tell the researchers about the cost-effectiveness of the treatment. This looks at the cost of the treatment and also at its effects on other aspects of care, such as improvement in quality of life or the need for other drugs to overcome side effects of the new treatment. Some trials may also be trying to find out how the treatment affects cost in other areas of life and you may be asked questions about travel, the number of times you visit your doctor and nurse, and whether you were able to work during the treatment. These are known as Health Economic Studies.