Anuska Sen, Team BioXone
The International Clinical Trials Day is celebrated on the 20th of May each year to commemorate the enormous contributions of clinical trials and their participants to the various fields of science. The purpose of celebrating this day is to let people know about the importance of clinical trials and spread the knowledge by international communication via debates, webinars, and other means.
On this day The Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) pays a tribute to all the clinical researchers around the globe for challenging the impossible and continuously giving hope to the people to not lose the fight -the endless fights against diseases like cancers, tuberculosis, etc. and now the mighty Coronavirus disease.
What is clinical trial?
Clinical trials are a series of tests or experiments performed using a specific number of participants to check the efficacy of a newly developed drug, vaccine, treatment protocol, medical device, or any other medical supplement. The participants are divided into two groups, namely the experimental group and the control group. The participants of the experimental group are administered the newly developed drug/vaccine while the control group receives any standard medication. The subjects (participants of the trial) However, a term called “blinding” or “masking” is very prevalent in clinical trials. This means that the participants of the trial do not get to know in which group (experiment or control) have they been places, or as to what is the standard medication administered. If the drug/vaccine being tested shows successful/positive results in the first trial, then they are allowed to go for the second trial and so on. Clinical trials on a medical product give information about its suitable dosage, safety, side effects, and efficiency.
History of the International Clinical Trials Day
The day was celebrated for the first time ever after James Lind, a Scottish doctor, conducted the first-ever clinical trials in medical history, while developing the theory that scurvy disease could be cured by citrus fruits. He began his randomized experiments/trials on the 20th of May, 1947 while traveling in a ship. His set of experiments in the 1700s are known to be one of the first controlled, reported clinical experiments in the history of medical science. His study was the first to use a control group, to prove his theory in a better way. One of the primary reasons for commemorating this day each year is to remember his contributions to medical research.
Importance of clinical trials in the present world
Taking into consideration the pandemic due to Covid-19, vaccines and life-saving drugs are the prime requirements. To launch any medical substance into the market and administer it to people on a large scale, sufficient rounds of clinical trials need to be conducted to be sure about its use, safety, side effects, and efficacy in treating the disease. It has been seen that a lot of companies/laboratories started preparing the vaccine for Covid-19, but not all have made it to the market yet. A lot of them are still stuck in one phase or the other of their clinical trials and thus have not received approval for mass usage. Had it not been for the clinical trials, so many highly effective and life-saving vaccines/drugs against Covid-19 could not have been here today.
For instance, the recently released 2-DG anti-covid drug jointly developed by DRDO and Dr. Reddy’s laboratory has received approval by the DCGI after three phases of successful clinical trials. Again, Covid vaccines such as the Moderna Vaccine (also known as mRNA-1273) have been administered to people on large scale, only after it had shown great efficacy in all phases of its clinical trials. Similarly, other Covid vaccines such as Covaxin, Covishield, Sputnik V, etc. have received approval only after good results in their clinical trials.
Hence, this day is a great opportunity for all of us to say a big “Thank You” to all the clinical researchers, medical practitioners, and others associated with clinical trials for the selfless great job that they do.
Also read:Amoebocytes: An Indicator of Bacterial Contamination
References:
- Clinical Trials Day – https://www.clinicaltrialsday.org/#clinical-trials-day
- About CTD2021 – Clinical Trials Day – https://www.clinicaltrialsday.org/about
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