What is a Clinical Trial?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines “A clinical trial [as] a research study to answer specific questions about vaccines, new therapies or new ways of using known treatments. Clinical trials (also called medical research and research studies) are used to determine whether new drugs or treatments are both safe and effective. Carefully conducted clinical trials are the fastest and safest way to find treatments that work in people.
Doctors and scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center take part in many different kinds of research studies. Some research does not include living human beings. Research that includes humans is clinical research. Clinical research helps researchers understand how best to treat patients or helps them learn more about a particular condition or disease. There are many different forms of clinical research. One common form is a clinical trial. In a clinical trial, researchers test new drugs, medical devices or treatments.
A clinical trial is a research study performed by physicians and other health care professionals to help determine if a treatment is safe and effective. Before these investigational treatments, they first undergo careful study. If favorable results are seen, then a research plan, called a protocol, is designed to study the treatment. Back to top…
A clinical trial is the scientific evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of a new investigational medical treatment, medication or device in human volunteers. After showing considerable benefit in the laboratory, new treatments must be tested among animals and then among small groups of people for safety reasons. Carefully selected doses are then tested in large groups of volunteers to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the treatment for a specific condition such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
The National Cancer Institute defines a clinical trial as the following: “A clinical trial is one of the final stages of a long and careful cancer research process. Studies are done with cancer patients to find out whether promising approaches to cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are safe and effective.
