Getting results from a clinical trial can take time. Understanding when and how you can access them can help manage expectations.
| How long does it take? | It can take a while to get trial results. Usually results are available 2–5 years after the study finishes, but sometimes it can take 10 years or more. The results of most clinical trials will be published in medical journals and presented at medical conferences and scientific meetings. |
| How to access results | If you’d like to know the results of the study you participated in, start by asking your doctor or clinical trials coordinator. The participant information you read at the beginning of the trial and the informed consent document you signed often say how and when the results will be available. The results are usually reported for everyone in the trial together, so you may not be able to see your individual results. |
| Understanding the results | You may want to talk to your doctor about what the overall results mean. Sometimes the study results are shared with participants in an easy-to-understand document (lay summary). |
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All updated content has been clinically reviewed by A/Prof Brett Hughes, Senior Staff Specialist, Medical Oncology, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital and The Prince Charles Hospital, and Associate Professor, The University of Queensland, QLD. This edition is based on the previous edition which was reviewed by the following panel: A/Prof Brett Hughes (see above); Christie Allan, Clinical Trials Lead, Cancer Council Victoria, VIC; Dawn Bedwell, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council Queensland, QLD; Joanne Benhamu, Senior Research Nurse, Team Lead, Lung, Colorectal and Palliative Care Trials, Parkville Cancer Clinical Trials Unit, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, VIC; Louise Dillon, Consumer; Sabina Jelinek, Clinical Nurse Research, St John of God Murdoch Hospital, WA; Chloe Jennett, Program Coodinator, Cancer Research, Cancer Council NSW; Carmel McCarthy, Consumer; Alison Richards, Research Unit Manager, Medical Oncology Clinical Trials Unit, Flinders Medical Centre, SA; Prof Jane Ussher, Translational Health Research Institute (THRI), School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, NSW; Prof Janette Vardy, Medical Oncologist, Concord Cancer Centre, and Professor of Cancer Medicine, The University of Sydney, NSW.
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