About clinical trials

A clinical trial is a test in humans of an experimental medication or therapy. Clinical trials are experiments, not treatments, and participation requires careful consideration.

Although it's possible to benefit from participating in a clinical trial, it's also possible that no benefit — or even harm — may occur. Keep your MDA clinic doctor informed about any clinical trial participation. (Note that MDA has no ability to influence who is chosen to participate in a clinical trial.)

MDA-supported scientists are studying the underlying mechanisms that cause inflammatory myopathies, the group of diseases to which polymyositis (PM) belongs. Understanding precisely why and how the immune system attacks muscle tissue in PM will likely lead to better treatments for the disease.

One research team is studying inflammatory myopathies in dogs. These diseases appear to be similar in dogs and humans, and it is believed that this project may generate deeper understanding of human PM, and lead to new tools for diagnosis and treatment.

Polymyositis (PM) is a highly treatable disease. Some people recover completely, while others experience greatly diminished symptoms for long periods of time. Several years of treatment to suppress the immune system may be necessary to achieve these results.

Those who don’t recover completely may need to continue on at least a low dose of medication to control the autoimmune attack of PM throughout their lives.

In most cases, the cause of an inflammatory myopathy like polymyositis (PM) is unclear. For some reason, the body’s immune system turns against its own muscles and damages muscle tissue in an autoimmune process.

Viruses might be a trigger for autoimmune myositis. People with the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, can develop a myositis, as can people with a virus called HTLV-1. Some myositis cases have followed infection with the Coxsackie B virus.