I may or may not be of any help. I'm currently in an Iressa trial. Being part of a trial means signing up for years of "study" It was also presented to me as a drug with few side effects, but I must say that in hindsight, I've been unlucky enough to experience some of them and would say that the word "minor" wouldn't qualify at the time I was experiencing them. However, whenever you the patient are experiencing side effects, the doctors do seem to take this as an encouraging sign that the drug is working.

Being part of a study or trial also involves more testing as being part of the requirements. At the time I signed up I asked if this would involve more blood draws or other painful procedures and was told "not really more than the usual" but sometimes it certainly feels like I have more fooling around with simply because of the trial. As a patient taking a trial drug you also have to fill out paperwork every day to note the exact TIME you took the drug, and the researchers in charge of the trial will call you up regularly to keep up with the paperwork and making sure you get in for the CT scans and bloodwork.

In all honesty, when I first got diagnosed and was facing this horrible disease head on, I was willing to take on anything that would improve my life expectancy. I willingly signed the contracts to be a part of a trial. Take the time to read over the contracts and talk to your doctors. When the radiation oncologist mentioned that the researchers will follow me up for two years and then five years out, that sounded pretty encouraging at the time. Also, it sounded good just to have an extra treatment in the arsenol against cancer at the time.

Good luck to you in whichever choice you make.

Jen