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A Few Concepts On Clinical Research Tampa Residents May Find Worthwhile

By Barbara Walker


There is a huge number of diseases in the world today whose cure has not been found yet. This cure could be in form drugs, technology or even psychological. Even when definitive treatment is not established, scientists have to come up with ways of keeping a given disease under control. These are some of the basics of clinical research Tampa residents may find informative.

Pre-clinical trials precede clinical trials in order to confirm the safety profile of a given agent before it is tried on a human being for studies. The main goal of the pre-clinical study is to come up with the appropriate dose that can be given without harming the subject under study. It includes both pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. The former determines how a drug behaves in the body, right from absorption and distribution to the time it is metabolized and excreted from the body. The latter describes the response of the agent by the human system.

Trials may also be designed for testing medical devices rather than drugs. Medical devices are generally invented to enhance the accuracy of diagnosis of illnesses or to maintain functionality when an organ is or has failed. A good example is the artificial pacemaker. For such a device to be approved for use, researchers need to establish just how sustainable it would be for any given individual. Medical equipment and devices have to be taken through the stage of good lab practices to ascertain their safety.

In a bid to hasten the research process, an initial step commonly referred to as phase zero was recently put in place. At this stage, the testing is usually done in animals. Moreover, very minute doses are administered. At the end of day, researchers can deduce which drug is promising enough to continue in the trial process.

Phase one of a study entails testing certain drug concepts on a given number of individuals. These concepts include formulation type, safety and dosing levels. Two to one hundred study subjects are utilized, on average.

Usually, healthy persons are used for study. The disadvantage is that these individuals may get sick in the process. Therefore, such people participate at a fee and informed consent is part of preparation. Alternatively, patients who are suffering from certain conditions and have not responded to all the available treatments in the market can sign up for such trials. Another category is that of patients with terminal illnesses.

In subsequent phases a greater number of participants is engaged. In most cases, more than a hundred people are scrutinized. Efficacy is the factor that is assessed at this point. Of note is that the third phase is usually the most tasking.

Last but not least is the fourth phase which aims to refine the research to assess special areas such as drug interactions involving the new molecule. It also assesses pregnant women and the young age group. This is attributed to the fact that these fall in the bracket of extremely high risk groups.




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