The Vital Role of Clinical Trials
No matter how promising a new treatment may seem in the laboratory; it must be carefully tested through clinical trials so that its effects on patients can be more fully understood. The fact that treatments are new, does not always mean that they are more effective than existing therapies. Clinical trials are the best way to assess whether new treatments are safe, what their side effects are, and whether they work better than the existing standard treatment. Vital treatments now commonly in use in the NHS were all developed and tested through clinical trials. Clinical trials have also shown doctors new ways to use existing treatments, to help people suffering from life-threatening illnesses to live longer and to experience a better quality of life.
Most clinical trials are randomised controlled trials, which mean that they are designed to compare two or more treatments as fairly as possible by reducing the likelihood of bias. A treatment is allocated to patients at random, usually by a computer programme rather than the decision being made by their doctor. Randomisation helps to ensure that the groups of people receiving the different treatments are broadly similar in terms of health, age, etc. Researchers can then be confident that the results of the trial will reveal the differences between the treatments, rather than the differences between the people receiving them.
Well-run clinical trials rely on the expertise and commitment of a range of healthcare professionals: the researchers, who will pose the research question and plan the trial; the pharmacy staff who facilitate the dispensing and management of the trial; the nurses and therapists administering the treatments being tested; and the trial manager and administrators who are responsible for efficient day -to- day running of the trial, including data management and recruitment of participants. Most important of all are the people who volunteer to take part. They play an essential part in helping scientists to develop and test treatments for the benefit of everyone in the community.