Clinical trials - are doctors allowed to talk?

[mjm]

Hi Kirismum,

I work in research (though not clinical trials), and as the ladies have said, it sounds very much like it's too early to have results. Until they have a decent number of people having had the treatment for long enough, the researchers can't crunch the numbers. So the doctors probably don't have figures to work off. Mum's Onc is involved in clinical trials and happily shares results once they're out, but that's from trials that started quite awhile back.

Research is often quite slow moving because it takes quite a lot of information (lots of people & long enough follow-up) to be confident the results are meaningful and not just a fluke - and they are so important to get right. Not sure if it's the same in clinical trials, but in social research we generally do all our recruitment of participants and data collection before getting out any results.

Must be hard not having the info though. Best wishes to you and your daughter,
Miriam