Gastrointestinal Cancer Clinical Trials

When appropriate, we also offer our patients the option to participate in clinical trials to try a promising new medical drug or other treatment. New treatments through clinical trials are expected to be at least as effective as — or possibly more effective than — current treatments.

Clinical trials test new treatment options only after they have first been researched in the laboratory, where they are carefully studied in the test tube and in laboratory animals. Only the treatments most likely to work are further evaluated in humans during clinical trials. For any new drug or treatment to receive approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and become available to the public, it must pass through three phases of clinical trials to show that it is safe and effective in treating the disease. If the FDA approves the drug, it will continue to be monitored for safety and effectiveness in what is known as a Phase 4 study.