Be a Clinical Trial Participant

By participating in clinical research, you will contribute and play a part in the understanding of diseases which will accelerate medical science by providing valuable insights into potential treatments and methods of prevention. 

Participants with an illness who have exhausted conventional treatment options also participate in clinical research to receive the newest or alternative treatments that are otherwise not available to them.

You may want to speak to both your doctor and the Principal Investigator (PI) of the clinical study to learn more about the study. 

Some examples of questions you may want to ask:

It is important to fully understand and have all your queries answered before agreeing to take part in the clinical study.

You are entitled to your rights as a participant in a clinical study. Knowing your rights allows you to be in control of your welfare when participating in a clinical study.

Your rights include -

If you wish to seek an independent opinion of your rights as a participant, you may contact the NHG Domain Specific Review Board Secretariat at +65 6471 3266.

As an Academic Medical Centre, NUHS has a robust ‘Human Research Protection Programme’ to protect the safety and well-being of research participants. 

All clinical studies, involving human participants and conducted in NUHS, are reviewed by independent institutional review boards (IRB) appointed by NUHS. The IRB is an independent committee constituted of medical, scientific and non-scientific members, whose responsibility is to ensure the protection of the rights, safety and well-being of human participants involved in a clinical study by reviewing, approving and providing continuing review of clinical studies and amendments, and of the methods and materials to be used in obtaining and documenting informed consent of the research participants.

Clinical studies, such as clinical trials, that are regarded as more than minimal risk to participants are reviewed by a ‘Full Board Review’ process. Full Board Review means that a group of members from the IRB gather at a convened meeting to collectively review clinical studies to ensure that the research meets certain criteria before study procedures are initiated. The criteria are based on the principles of autonomy, beneficence and justice in the Belmont Report.

In general, a clinical study must fulfil the following criteria:

Clinical studies approved by the IRB are reviewed at least once a year, and the frequency of review may be increased if the degree of risk is higher. During this renewal process, the investigator conducting the research must provide a report of the study status and other safety information. The IRB will then review these studies again to ensure the rights, safety and welfare of the research participants are protected.

In addition, no deviation or changes to the approved study is allowed without approval from the IRB.

For more information regarding the review process by DSRB (IRB appointed by NUHS), click here.