“Clinical research is any research study that prospectively
assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related
interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes.” This is the
definition of clinical research by the World Health Organization. In simpler
words, clinical research is the study wherein individuals, maybe patients or
healthy volunteers, participate to have a new medication or treatment
experimented on them to determine whether it works, and to what extent.
Thus, clinical trials are designed to explore the effects of
a new medication or treatment and determine whether they are safe and effective
for use. They therefore help to find new ways to detect, diagnose, and treat
ailments. What works goes ahead for approval to reach our bedside cabinets, and
what doesn’t work is straightaway put into the bin. So, it is very clear that
without clinical trials, new medications simply wouldn’t exist! And, even if
they would, without trials, people would be at risk of been giving medications
that may either not work, or may even be harmful!
Clinical trials help develop new medical treatments by first
experimenting the same on animal models to check for safety and efficacy. Such
animal testing, or computer simulation in some cases, can tell us about how a
new treatment may work. If the test is found to be ineffective or harmful in
the case of animals, the treatment is discarded right away; or a better
alternative is developed making the required changes. However, if the treatment
is proven to be effective in animals, it is then tested on a large group of
people to ensure that any improvement that may occur will be seen in a large
number, and not just a random effect for an individual or two.
Most modern medical treatments and medicines follow the
above procedure to get to our medicine cabinets. New treatments for all
conditions like cancer, heart disease, blood pressure, and others that hadn’t
found a permanent cure up till sometime ago, have been developed through
clinical research. With the new treatments developed and approved through
clinical trials, patients are able to live longer and better, with lesser
discomfort and pain.
All of the above is enough to explain why clinical trials
are important and should be followed. However, let us still take a look at the
various applications and assistance that clinical trials can provide.
- Clinical trials can diagnose diseases or conditions through blood samples, urine samples, and other methodologies.
- Clinical trials can prevent diseases and conditions by testing a vaccine.
- Clinical trials can treat diseases and conditions by testing new medicines and medical procedures.
- Clinical trials can improve the lifestyle of a patient by testing how a particular diet affects a condition.
- Clinical trials can test drugs, medical devices, surgical procedures, diagnostic tests, biological products, dietary changes, vaccines, and many other therapies.
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