Medical research is about developing new or improving existing medicines or medical procedures. It is also about studying the effects and side effects of drugs in pre-clinical (animal models) and clinical (humans) trials. Developing a new drug often starts by screening a lot of compounds in cell or biochemical assays. When the desired effect is found, the drug is further tested for its mechanism in cell systems, and for its safety and efficacy in animal models. Finally the drug is tested in 4 phases of human clinical trials with different focuses:
- Phase 1: safety and side effects (~10-50 participants)
- Phase 2: efficacy – does the drug actually work (~100-300 patients)
- Phase 3: safety and efficacy on a larger group of patients (~1000-3000)
- Phase 4: ongoing safety and efficacy studies after governmental approval.
We welcome researchers to submit articles in all fields relating to the medical research.