What is a clinical trial?

In a clinical trial, participants receive specific interventions according to the research plan or protocol created by the investigators. These interventions may be medical products, such as drugs or devices; procedures; or changes to participants' behavior, such as diet. Clinical trials may compare a new medical approach to a standard one that is already available, to a placebo that contains no active ingredients, or to no intervention. Some clinical trials compare interventions that are already available to each other. When a new product or approach is being studied, it is not usually known whether it will be helpful, harmful, or no different than available alternatives (including no intervention). The investigators try to determine the safety and efficacy of the intervention by measuring certain outcomes in the participants. For example, investigators may give a drug or treatment to participants who have high blood pressure to see whether their blood pressure decreases.

Clinical trials used in drug development are sometimes described by phase. These phases are defined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Current Clinical Trials

Reducing Antimicrobial Overuse Through Targeted Therapy for Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Sponsor: Agency for Heathcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Cleveland Clinic PI: Abhishek Deshpande, MD, PhD & Michael Rothberg, MD, MPH
Clinicaltrials.gov
Status: Open to enrollment

Assisted Ambulation to Improve Health Outcomes for Older Medical Inpatients
Sponsor: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Cleveland Clinic PI: Michael Rothberg, MD, MPH
Clinicaltrials.gov
Status: Open to enrollment

Personalized Disease Prevention (PDP): A Randomized Clinical Trial
Sponsor: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Cleveland Clinic PI: Glen Taksler, PhD
Clinicaltrials.gov
Status: Open to enrollment

The Impact of Functional Medicine on Wound Healing From Delayed Autologous Breast Reconstruction - A Feasibility Study
Sponsor: Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Cleveland Clinic PI: Amanda Shallcross, ND, MPH
Clinicaltrials.gov
Status: Open to enrollment

Application Based Addiction Treatment Adherence Trial: A Pilot Study
Sponsor: Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic PI: Robert Bales, MD
Clinicaltrials.gov
Status: Closed to enrollment

Yoga for Chronic Low Back Pain in the Cleveland Clinic Employee Health Plan
Sponsor: Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic PI: Robert Saper, MD
Clinicaltrials.gov
Status: Closed to enrollment

Safety and Efficacy of Enteral Feeding Tube Stoma Site Accessory (SSA)
Sponsor: Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic PI: Eric Yudelevich, MD
Clinicaltrials.gov
Status: On Hold

Home Blood Pressure Monitoring to Improve Hypertension
Sponsor: Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic PI: Irina Todorov, MD
Clinicaltrials.gov
Status: Active, not recruiting