Why Clinical Trials Are Important
Clinical trials are the best way to compare different approaches to preventing and treating illness and health problems. Health professionals and patients need the evidence from trials to know which treatments work best. Without trials, there is a risk that people could be given treatments which have no advantage, waste resources, and might even be harmful. Many treatments that are now in common use in health care were assessed in clinical trials.
Some types of clinical trial are designed to look at a treatment at an early stage of its development. Researchers and regulators will look at the information gathered and decide whether it is safe and appropriate to continue the development of that treatment. If the treatment has no benefit or has serious side effects, it may not be developed further.
During the later stages of development of a treatment, researchers will report on the benefits and risks so that doctors can decide whether or how best to use it. It is important that the results of clinical trials are published so that others can use the information to help them make decisions about treatment and health care. Clinical trial results also form an important part of the evidence used to decide whether a particular treatment will be approved for use.