Awareness and Perceptions of Clinical Trials in Cancer Patients and Their Families in Saudi Arabia Shouki Bazarbashi & Anees Hassan & Ahmed Mohi Eldin & Hussein Soudy & Fazal Hussain # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 Abstract Despite the increasing number of medical articles being published from the Middle East, clinical research is still lagging behind compared to other regions. Enrolling partici- pants into clinical trials presents an important challenge. We wanted to explore the perception, knowledge, and willingness of cancer patients to participate in oncology clinical trials and to recommend strategies to overcome these challenges. A 31- item questionnaire was administered to cancer patients and their family members in an outpatient clinic. Two hundred four patients and family members were enrolled between De- cember 2011 and February 2013. Fifty-eight percent of the participants were aware of clinical trials. Some misconcep- tions included the following: 22 % believed that no clinical trials were conducted in the Arab world, 19 % believed that clinical trials in the Arab world were not under any regulatory authority supervision, and 15 % believed that local clinical trials are conducted on subjects without their consent. One third of patients assumed that clinical trials are executed on animals instead of humans, and greater than 40 % believed that clinical trials are performed for new medications only. Finally, 61 % of the survey participants who were aware of clinical trials expressed their willingness to participate in tri- als. This large cohort survey demonstrated that a relatively significant number of Saudi cancer patients and their families are aware of clinical trials and a similarly high number of participants are willing to participate in clinical trials. This leads us to believe that patients’ awareness and perception of clinical trials are not a significant limiting factor in clinical trial recruitment in our region. Keywords Clinical trials . Cancer patients . Awareness . Willingness to participate . Barriers Introduction The pace and extent of clinical research conducted on oncol- ogy patients in the Middle East in general have been relatively slow and lagging behind, as compared to other regions. Out of the 6929 oncology clinical trials that were conducted world- wide in 2013, only 353 were completed in the Middle East [1]. Although evidence-based publications in this part of the world have expanded over the past 2 decades by about 113 %, this increase is exceptionally less than that seen in some develop- ing regions, such as Asia (129 %), Eastern Europe (142 %), and Latin America (185 %) [2]. In order to achieve a good number of successful clinical trials in any region, a conducive research environment, research-specific resources, and a solid infrastructure are required to maintain the vigilance necessary to safeguard the rights and welfare of the subjects and to ensure the safety and protection of the human participants. This prerequisite has been established in a couple of tertiary care centers in Saudi Arabia but is still lacking in many others. The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) provides its services professionally by evaluating, registering, and moni- toring all clinical trials conducted in Saudi Arabia. It also contributes to the protection of clinical trial subjects, increases the experience of investigators in the field of clinical research, and strengthens the capacity of the regulatory body, legisla- tive, and oversight functions [3]. Another important factor influencing the rate of develop- ment of scientific research includes an adequate number of patients participating in clinical studies. Estimates of partici- pation in cancer clinical trials worldwide have ranged to as S. Bazarbashi (*) : A. Hassan : A. M. Eldin : H. Soudy : F. Hussain Section of Medical Oncology, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center—Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia e-mail: bazarbashi@gmail.com J Canc Educ DOI 10.1007/s13187-015-0797-0