The possible risks of participating in a clinical trial include the following:
- New drugs or procedures under study are not always better than the standard care to which they are being compared.
- New treatments may have side effects or risks that doctors do not expect or that are worse than those resulting from standard care.
- Participants in randomized trials will not be able to choose the approach they receive.
- Health insurance and managed care providers may not cover all patient care costs in a study.
- Participants may be required to make more visits to the doctor than they would if they were not in the clinical trial.
Source: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clinical-trials/taking-part