|
Clinical
Trials:
One of the greatest advances in medicine was the introduction of
a new research technique in the mid-1950s called the controlled
clinical trial, which is used to determine if new drugs and other
treatments are safe and effective. In the controlled clinical trial,
one group of patients, the treatment group, receives the new drug
or new treatment. Another group, the control group, is given an
inactive pill (a placebo) or the best standard treatment. Researchers
then compare the two groups over a period of time. The data collected
is put through rigorous statistical techniques to determine whether
the new treatment is safer and more effective than standard therapy
or no treatment.
Most
clinical trials are conducted on a blind or double-blind basis.
In a blind trial, patients do not know whether they receive the
new drug or a placebo. In a double-blind trial, neither patients
nor physicians know who is receiving the new treatment. This secrecy
is important because patients who know they are taking a powerful
new drug may expect to feel better and report improvement to doctors.
Researchers who know that a patient is receiving the test treatment
may also see improvements that really do not exist.
Clinical
trials usually are randomized. Researchers put patients into the
treatment group or control group at random. This helps to assure
that neither group contains an excess of patients with severe disease.
A drug may appear more effective if the treatment group were packed
with patients who had only mild symptoms.
The
results of clinical trials are subjected to peer review. Researchers
publish their results in scientific journals or present them to
an audience of other scientists, who are their peers. This gives
scientists not involved in the research a chance to spot potential
errors.
|
