Clinical trials are research studies undertaken by healthcare organisations. They involve testing new treatments and therapies on participants and evaluating their outcomes. People are typically paid to participate in clinical trials. Sometimes they involve surgical procedures, radiological procedures, taking drugs, and behavioural treatments. Clinical trials welcome people of all ages, including young people. A clinical trial report is a detailed examination of the clinical trial, and an explanation of what took place during it.
This article will further break down clinical trials, clinical trial reports, and will explain how both are useful:
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are a type of research that studies drugs and novel healthcare treatments, as we have previously explained; they also study and evaluate the effects and outcomes of these drugs and treatments. The people involved in clinical trials are carefully reviewed, interviewed, and studied before they are admitted. This is to rule out any health problems that might put them at risk of side effects. There are four main phases in biomedical clinical trials, which are:
- Phase I is where a new drug is tested for the first time on a small group of participants, in order to evaluate safe dosage ranges and identify side effects.
- Phase II is where new treatments that are found to be safe are tested on larger groups of people, in order to monitor for any short or long-term adverse effects.
- Phase III is another study conducted on an even larger group of people, although this is usually in a different country or region, and takes place shortly before a drug is approved for usage.
- Phase IV is when a drug has been approved, but the manufacturer still wants to monitor the drug’s effects on the population over a longer period of time, allowing them to rule out long-term side effects.
Clinical Reports
Clinical reports, also known as case reports, are reports which break down each element of a clinical trial, and then examine what could have been done better [if anything could have]. These reports provide a complete summary of a clinical trial, including the side-effects produced by a drug or treatment, and the participant’s reaction to it. This gives healthcare professionals a better idea of how a certain drug or treatment works. Even after a treatment has been approved, healthcare professionals can still read the original case report and get an idea of what to expect when they begin distributing a certain medicine or offering treatment to their patients. This can help them to make better decisions regarding their patient’s health.
In addition, clinical reports allow healthcare professionals from all over the world to read about trials that weren’t undertaken in their own countries. It also gives government agencies the ability to research a specific drug or treatment and how it has been used in another country, before they implement it in their own. The only barrier to international case reports is language. Fortunately, medical translation services exist exclusively to translate case reports for government agencies and healthcare companies. You can click here to find medical translation services, if you need a case report translated. Clinical reports are very useful and with language barriers removed, there are no limits to who they can benefit.
Advantages and Risks of Clinical Trials
Advantages of Clinical Trials
There are many advantages of clinical trials and some risks. The advantages include:
- Clinical trials give healthcare agencies, companies, and professionals the opportunity to find treatment for new diseases. If it weren’t for clinical trials, the highly successful COVID-19 vaccines would not have been produced and rolled out. Clinical reports played a very important role in the production of COVID-19 vaccines, allowing healthcare professionals from around the world to dispel misinformation and provide accurate information to people concerned about taking vaccines.
- Clinical trials also give people the opportunity to play a more active role in their health care. Participants are able to learn about a drug or treatment and trial it before anybody else has had the opportunity to. People are also able to read case reports, which provide very useful information about specific drugs and treatments.
- Clinical trials also provide free health check-ups, which are very useful to people who don’t regularly see their physician or who cannot afford to go in for an annual health check-up.
- Clinical trials give people the opportunity to help other people get better healthcare treatment for their problems in the future. By volunteering and participating in a clinical trial, people enable the treatment of diseases that they may not necessarily be suffering from. In addition, clinical trials also pay people, which means that people who are struggling financially can be helped. The payment for participating in a clinical trial is usually handsome. Sometimes, payment can exceed $5,000 dollars per trial, and people can participate in several trials a year.
Risks of Clinical Trials
As one might expect, there are some risks associated with participating in trials of new drugs. Some of them include:
- Unfortunately, clinical trials can result in participants experiencing serious or uncomfortable side effects. While these side-effects rarely result in death or serious illness, they can be very uncomfortable while they last. Side-effects aren’t guaranteed, but participants have to sign waivers declaring that they will not seek legal compensation for injuries sustained during trials.
- Sometimes clinical trials simply don’t work. The drugs and treatments trialled aren’t always better than existing drugs or treatment. This means that essentially, the entire trial is a waste of time. With that said, failed studies can further prove the efficacy of existing treatments.
- During clinical trials, people are divided into two groups, placebo and experimental. You can’t always guarantee which you will be. Because of this, you may not actually be a participant in anything. This means if you wanted to participate in trialling new treatments, you may not actually be trying them.
- Finally, clinical trials can be very time-consuming. They usually last for several weeks. This means that even if you are paid, you may only be compensated for the time you take off of work [which is probably going to be a lot].
Clinical trials are a very important part of the healthcare industry. Naturally, clinical reports are too. As this article demonstrates, clinical reports are extremely useful, particularly to international healthcare organisations and government agencies.