My husband was in two clinical trials after his cancer metastasized and he was given six months to a year. The first trial was a phase 1 trial for PDL-1 which has winced been approved and is now on the market. The second was a phase 2 trial for selinexor. The MO explained to me that both are palliative measure (as opposed to curative measures). For the phase 1 trial, he was monitored very closely as the trial aimed to find out if it was safe to be used on humans. Unfortunately, it did not work for him. The second trial was way more harsh on John and he was eventually demitted from it because he kept having all kinds of side effects that he was really miserable. After the second trial, he was given other, older kinds of chemo.

Patients are selected for clinical trials. The sponsor (drug company) has certain criteria that the patient has to meet befor he can be admitted to the trial. There are all kinds of requirements that must be met before the trial can proceed. For example, John had to have two lung biopsies for the first trial. That has its own risks. Other requirements included regular EKG's, blood tests, etc.

You can go to the OCF main site to read about clinical trials. You should request a consultation with the MO and ask whatever questions you may have. Do find out if the trial is a double-blind test. In that case, the patient may not be given the new drug. You want to know all that before committing.