Rare disease clinical trials and treatments, in plain language

No. Trial Friend is an informational resource that helps you understand your rare disease, explore current and emerging treatments, check medication conflicts, and find clinical trials you may qualify for. It does not provide medical advice. Always talk to your doctor before making treatment decisions or considering participation in a clinical trial.

All trial data comes directly from ClinicalTrials.gov, the official database maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. We query it in real time so you always see the latest available information. Keep in mind that recruitment statuses on ClinicalTrials.gov can lag behind recent FDA decisions, sponsor announcements, or enrollment changes, so it's always a good idea to confirm a trial's status directly with the study coordinator.

When you click "Translate to plain English," more than 500 hand-written rules rewrite the trial's eligibility criteria into everyday terms and group them by topic, such as age, prior treatments and other health conditions. It runs in your browser and does not use an AI model. You can also hover or tap any underlined medical term throughout the site for an instant definition.

No. You can search and read trials without signing up for anything. If you want to receive email alerts when new trials open for your condition, you can optionally enter your email.

It depends on the trial. Many trials let you continue your current treatment, but some require a washout period or exclude certain drug classes. Trial Friend's medication conflict checker scans each trial's exclusion criteria and flags potential issues with your medications. You see the drug name, the trial's exact language, and a confidence level so you can have an informed conversation with your doctor.

Trial Friend covers 229 rare diseases and conditions including multiple sclerosis, Rett syndrome, Dravet syndrome, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, ALS, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Huntington disease, and many more. Each disease page includes medically sourced information about the condition, current treatment options, drug pipelines, side effect profiles, medication conflict checking, and active clinical trials. New conditions are added regularly based on community requests.

In the United States, a rare disease is defined as a condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people. There are more than 7,000 known rare diseases, and collectively they affect about 30 million Americans. Many are genetic in origin and lack FDA-approved treatments, which is why understanding your condition, knowing what's in the drug pipeline, and staying on top of clinical trials matters so much. Some of today's clinical trials become tomorrow's approved therapies.

Yes. Every feature is free: disease information, treatment guides, medication conflict checking, trial search, Match Me scoring, gene search, drug pipeline tracking, plain-English eligibility translation and the AI chat assistant. No subscription, no premium tier, no paywall. We believe access to rare disease information should not have a price tag.

Drug Decoder is our plain-English drug reference covering 324 medications across rare diseases. Each entry explains how the drug works, its real-world side effects sourced from FDA labels and published trials, key clinical trial results, approval history, and pricing context. Think of it as the drug information you wish your doctor had time to explain.

Treatment Arcs are personalized treatment timelines. Enter which medication you're on and how long you've been taking it, and Trial Friend shows you what to expect at your current stage: common side effects, which labs to ask about at your next visit, and what changes to watch for as treatment progresses. Your answers are saved in your browser's localStorage so they're still there when you come back. Nothing is sent to our servers.

No. Unlike platforms like Facebook or TikTok, Trial Friend does not track you across websites, build advertising profiles from your health searches, or sell your data to brokers. We use privacy-respecting analytics to understand general site usage, but we never tie that to your identity. Your health searches are personal and we keep it that way.