Before joining a Clinical Trial or Experimental Therapy

What you should know if you are considering to participate in a clinical trial or an experimental treatment for spinal cord injuries!

Wings for Life provides you with an easy-to-read booklet produced by the ICCP which gives you an overview of the ASIA scale, spontaneous recovery and the risks of unapproved treatments. You will discover how clinical trials work, from Phase 1 to Phase 4, as well as the basics of trial design and pre-clinical studies. The booklet informs you about the ethics of clinical trials, bias and controls. Additionally, the importance of informed consent is being discussed, followed by a review of some scales that are used to measure functional benefits. You will learn about concerns that might arise regarding the possibility of taking part in a future trial after already participating in a trial. You will then be introduced to some experimental approaches to SCI which are currently being studied. Finally, the document provides you with a list of questions you might want to ask to a researcher inviting you to participate in a human study. This checklist may assist you in your decision whether or not to participate in the trial.

Which document should I download?

The full 40-page guide for people with spinal cord injury, their families, friends and caregivers. (2.4MB)

The 10-page summary and overview of the full guide. (1.1MB)