What is a Clinical Research Trial?
Clinical research trials are supervised research studies of medical procedures or medications to evaluate their safety and effectiveness. Each clinical study is designed to answer specific scientific questions and to find new and better ways to help patients. For any given disease or condition, a clinical trial may:
- Establish the first effective treatment
- Establish a more effective treatment
- Establish a better tolerated treatment
- Find a new use for a currently available treatment
Four Phases of Clinical Trials
There are four types of clinical trials: Phase I, Phase II, Phase III and Phase IV. Phase I clinical studies are the first stage of drug testing on humans. Phase I trials typically involve healthy volunteers and require in-patient stay for varying lengths of time. Phase I trials typically test the safety, dosing and tolerability of certain medications.
Once the drug’s safety has been determined in the Phase I trial, Phase II trials are performed on larger groups of volunteers to test for efficacy and toxicity. Phase III trials are conducted across multiple trial centers on large groups of participants to definitively conclude a drug’s efficacy and monitor side effects. Phase IV trials are post marketing studies after the drug is cleared for sale to further outline benefits and risks. You can learn more about the types of clinical research trials HERE.
Learn more about the clinical trial phases HERE.