What are clinical trials?
Whenever a new chemical substance is discovered that may have some beneficial effect on the human body, it needs first to be developed and tested before it can be used. These substances come from various sources such as plants, but these days most are made synthetically.
For every new medicine to make the grade, around 10,000 chemical substances have been examined and of these only about 1,000 make it to the pre-screening stage. Then only 5 to 10 of the substances that have been through this stage will go forward to be tested on human beings.
Before human testing can begin, all the pre-screening information has to go before an independent Ethics Committee, who will evaluate and check that it is safe, and not likely to cause harm to volunteers.
There are four phases to the human testing of new drugs, and as you will have already realised the safety of our volunteers is the highest priority.
Click here to read our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to review answers to the most commonly asked questions on clinical trials.