Research in Health Care: What Does Clinical Trial Mean?

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Medical science basically uses two types of research studies in the health care sector. One is called observational studies and the other is the clinical trial.

A clinical trial is a type of research study which is designed to execute on people to find out whether the new treatment, medicine or vaccines works effectively or not. There are some other clinical trials which perform to generate ideas about new disease earlier. In some cases, the test is performed on the animal body to get a clear picture of the safety of the treatment.

Different Phases of Clinical Trial

Clinical trials in the context of health care mainly consist of four different phases. The phases are:

Phase 1

Phase one is the very first and basic step of the clinical trial. In this phase, scientists gather 20 to 80 physically fit people on a primary level. The experiment continues on those people for several months. In this phase, researchers acquire information about the correct portion of doses a person can take without facing any kind of negative effects.

Phase 2

Phase two conducts on more than a hundred people (100-300 approximately). The main purpose of this phase is to figure out the effectiveness of the treatment. This investigation can last from several months to years to obtain clear information about the effectiveness.

Phase 3

Phase three clinical trial in health care is generally a lengthy process. A relatively larger number of people partake in this phase. The investigation is performed on a total of 3000 people and the study continues for several years. This phase is designed to create a comparison of the effectiveness of new treatment to the already established one.

Phase 4

The last and most effective clinical trial phase starts after getting the final approval from the FDA. It is the largest phase which emphasizes knowing the broader consequence of the medication, more than a thousand participants involved in this phase.