UVA Clinical Trials

Cancer Clinical Trials at the University of Virginia

View All
Cancer Clinical Trials

To view cancer-specific trials, please select a cancer type in the menu below: 

What are Clinical Trials?


Clinical trials are research studies involving people. They are the final step in a long process that begins with preliminary laboratory research and animal testing.  Clinical trials try to answer specific scientific questions to find better ways to prevent, detect, or treat a disease or to improve care for people with a disease.

In cancer research, a clinical trial is designed to show how a certain anticancer approach - for instance a promising drug, a new surgical procedure, a new diagnostic test, or a new possible way to prevent cancer - affects the people who receive it.

Types of Cancer Clinical Trials


Treatment trials

1. Action studies ("doing something") focus on finding out whether the actions people take - such as exercising more or quitting smoking - can prevent cancer.

2. Agent studies ("taking something") focus on finding out whether medications may lower the risk of a certain type of cancer.

Prevention trials

These studies are generally chemoprevention trials. Researchers who conduct prevention trials want to know: How safe is it for people to take this agent or perform this activity, and does the new approach prevent cancer? Placebos are sometimes used in prevention trials when there is no current approach or standard drug for cancer prevention in the population being studied. 

Diagnostic Trials

These trials focus on how new tests or procedures can better identify whether people have cancer.  Some diagnostic trials compare two or more techniques to diagnose cancer, find out how accurate each technique is, and see whether a new technique can provide valuable information in the fight against cancer.

Early Detection

The goal of early detection studies is to discover methods for finding cancer as early as possible. Imaging tests, laboratory tests, physical exams, and genetic testing can lead to new ways of finding cancer in individuals before they have symptoms.

Quality of Life

These trials evaluate improvements in the comfort and quality of life for individuals who have cancer and are having nutrition problems, infections, nausea and vomiting, sleep disorders, depression or other effects from cancer or its treatment. Some supportive trials focus on families and caregivers to help them cope with both their needs and the needs of the individual with cancer.