Fishtown Medicine helps patients with a cancer diagnosis find clinical trials through the American Cancer Society's free ACS ACTS matching service (1-800-227-2345), ClinicalTrials.gov, and the trial desks at Philadelphia's 3 NCI-designated cancer centers. The best time to ask about trials is at diagnosis, before treatment starts, because many trials only accept people who have not yet begun therapy.
TL;DR: If you or someone you love has cancer, a clinical trial may be a way to get tomorrow's treatment today, with close monitoring from a large care team. Trials are not a last resort, and in cancer trials you are never left untreated just to see what happens. The best time to ask is right at diagnosis, before treatment starts. The American Cancer Society runs a free matching service called ACS ACTS that pairs you with trials that fit your diagnosis, and it comes with help for lodging, rides, and support. You can reach it any hour at 1-800-227-2345 or at cancer.org. If you are my patient, bring me the diagnosis and we will look together.
A cancer diagnosis rearranges everything at once: your calendar, your sleep, your sense of the future. Somewhere in the first blur of appointments, somebody may mention a clinical trial, or you may wonder about one yourself at 2 AM with your phone in your hand. This page is for that moment. It explains what a trial is and is not, when to ask, how to find one that fits your situation, and how I help my patients through the process.
Fewer than 1 in 10 adults with cancer ever join a trial, and the research on why is humbling: most people are never told a trial exists for them, or there is no site within reach, or the logistics of getting there swallow the opportunity.3 Every one of those barriers is easier to clear with a guide. That is a role I take seriously.
What is a cancer clinical trial, and what is it not?
A clinical trial is a research study that tests whether a new treatment, or a new way of using an existing treatment, works better than what we have now. Every chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted drug in use today went through trials, carried by patients who joined them.
2 things patients fear about trials deserve to be answered plainly:
You will not be given a sugar pill instead of treatment. In cancer treatment trials, the comparison is almost always the new approach against the best current standard of care. When a placebo appears at all, it is added on top of standard treatment, never in place of it, and the consent form spells out the design before you agree to anything.2
A trial is not a last resort. Trials exist for every stage: newly diagnosed disease, cancers that came back, prevention of recurrence, and management of side effects. Some of the most promising trials only accept people who have not started treatment yet, because the study needs to measure the new approach from the beginning. That is the single most practical fact on this page, and it is why the time to ask is at diagnosis rather than after other options run out.
When should you ask about a trial?
At the first oncology visit, before the treatment plan is locked in. A good question to bring: "Are there any clinical trials that fit my diagnosis and stage, here or nearby, and would any of them require enrolling before I start treatment?"
Asking early does not commit you to anything, and it does not delay care in most cases. It simply keeps a door open that closes without an announcement once therapy begins. If the answer is no, you have lost nothing. If the answer is yes, you have gained an option that may not exist next month.
Oncologists want to connect patients with trials, and they are also human beings with full clinics who mostly know the trials running at their own center. A second search through a matching service costs nothing and sometimes surfaces a fit across town.
How do you find a trial that fits?
There are 3 reliable paths, and they work best together.
1. The ACS ACTS matching service. The American Cancer Society runs a free program called ACS ACTS, short for Access to Clinical Trials and Support. You fill out one form with your diagnosis, and a cancer information specialist calls you back to walk through trial options matched to your situation. The same program connects you with the society's practical help: free lodging near treatment centers through Hope Lodge, rides to treatment through Road to Recovery, and support for the load a diagnosis puts on a household. It is open to US residents, a caregiver or doctor can start the form for you, and the phone line at 1-800-227-2345 answers every hour of every day.1 If the form feels like more than you can face right now, I will sit with you and fill it out together.
2. ClinicalTrials.gov. This is the federal registry of every trial in the country. It is thorough and it is not gentle to read: the listings are written for researchers, and the eligibility criteria take practice to interpret. It is the right tool when you want to see everything that exists for your diagnosis, and it is a better tool with a clinician beside you translating.
3. The trial desks at the cancer centers themselves. Every major cancer center keeps a list of its open trials and staff whose job is matching patients to them. If you are being treated at one, ask. If you are being treated at a community practice, it is fair and common to ask a larger center for a trial-eligibility opinion while keeping your care where it is.
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What does joining a trial cost?
Less than most people fear, though the details matter and are worth checking before you sign.
The study drug or device itself is typically provided by the trial sponsor at no cost to you. Your routine care during the trial, meaning the visits, labs, and imaging you would have needed anyway, is billed to your insurance the same way it would be outside the trial, and federal law requires most health plans to cover those routine costs when you join an approved trial.4 Some trials also reimburse travel or parking.
The costs that catch people are the quiet ones: gas, tolls, nights away from home, time off work, childcare. This is where the American Cancer Society's support programs earn their keep, and it is worth asking the trial coordinator directly what the study covers before you enroll. A good coordinator will walk you through it line by line.
Where are trials run near Philadelphia?
Philadelphia is one of the better cities in the country to need a trial in. Within the city and its close suburbs there are 3 cancer centers holding the National Cancer Institute's highest designation: Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, Fox Chase Cancer Center, and the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson. Temple University Hospital runs trials as well, and community oncology practices across the region participate in national trial networks. Hundreds of cancer trials are open across these sites at any given time.
That density matters for a practical reason: the closer the trial, the more likely you can say yes to it. A trial that requires weekly visits is a different decision at 20 minutes than at 3 hours.
How I help when a patient of mine is facing cancer
Your oncologist leads the cancer treatment. My job is everything around it, and that turns out to be a lot.
When one of my patients gets a cancer diagnosis, I read the pathology and the staging with them, in plain language, for as long as that takes. I help them build the question list for the oncology visit, including the trial question above. If a trial search makes sense, we run it together, through ACS ACTS and the registry, and I help read the eligibility criteria against their chart. And through treatment, I stay on the rest of their health: the blood pressure, the sleep, the weight, the mood, the parts that a cancer center is not watching but that decide how well a person tolerates the fight.
Nobody should have to become a research librarian in the same month they become a patient. That is what it means to have a doctor in your corner.
Key Takeaways
- A clinical trial is a supervised way to reach new treatments, and in cancer treatment trials you are never left untreated for the sake of the study.
- Ask about trials at diagnosis, before treatment starts. Some trials only accept people who have not begun therapy.
- ACS ACTS is the American Cancer Society's free trial-matching service, reachable any hour at 1-800-227-2345, and it comes with lodging, ride, and support programs.
- The sponsor typically provides the study treatment free, and federal law requires most insurance plans to cover routine care costs in approved trials.
- Philadelphia has 3 NCI-designated cancer centers within reach, which makes saying yes to a trial more practical here than in most of the country.
- You do not have to run this search alone. Bring the diagnosis, and we will look together.
Scientific References
- American Cancer Society. ACS ACTS: Finding the Right Clinical Trial for You. cancer.org/cancer/making-treatment-decisions/clinical-trials/acs-acts.html
- National Cancer Institute. Clinical Trials Information for Patients and Caregivers. cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clinical-trials
- Unger JM, Vaidya R, Hershman DL, Minasian LM, Fleury ME. Systematic review and meta-analysis of the magnitude of structural barriers to cancer clinical trial participation. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2019;111(3):245-255.
- Public Health Service Act §2709 (42 U.S.C. §300gg-8): coverage for individuals participating in approved clinical trials.
- ClinicalTrials.gov. U.S. National Library of Medicine. clinicaltrials.gov
Related at Fishtown Medicine
- Advanced Cancer Screening - finding cancer earlier, before there is a diagnosis to treat
- What the NHS-Galleri Trial Showed - what one very large trial taught us about blood-based screening
- Turning Your Family History Into a Prevention Plan - acting on risk before it becomes a diagnosis
Medical Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice for any individual. Decisions about cancer treatment and clinical trial participation should be made with your oncology team, taking into account your diagnosis, stage, prior treatment, overall health, and personal preferences. Trial availability, eligibility criteria, and insurance coverage rules change; confirm current details with the trial coordinator and your health plan.
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