When patients enroll in clinical asbestos trials, they do so with the knowledge that their own health might not benefit and could even be compromised. What they may not have knowledge of, however, are the actual results of the clinical trial as is the case with many clinical trials including new drugs. “There’s usually not much additional effort done to reach out to participants and inform them (of the results) in a timely manner,” says Ray Dorsey, a University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center neurology instructor. More surprising, participants usually don’t even learn if they were taking an actual drug or a placebo or comparator drug, information that could impact their own care.

“Why isn’t this standard?” Dorsey says of efforts to inform participants of study results. “I suspect it’s just not a priority.”

It should be, says Conrad Fernandez, a pediatric oncologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who has surveyed researchers about why they don’t inform patients of results.

“We have a moral obligation to offer research results to participants,” Fernandez says. “It needs to be done in a very carefully planned way.”

Clinical trials can serve to be extremely helpful in treating mesothelioma and lung cancer caused by asbestos. As of right now there is no known cure for mesothelioma.

Learn more about mesothelioma research.