Unknown to most people, prescription medicines undergo stringent
testing processes to ensure their safety and efficacy. These clinical trials,
also known as interventional studies, involve testing the prototype
medicine (the intervention) on a group of test subjects. More often than
not, the results of these trials prove useful for improving overall medical
care in a number of ways.
First, these trials help not only to validate old medical studies,
but also to confirm whether certain medical practices are indeed safe. For
instance, it was found out that using hormone therapy to reduce the risk of
heart disease in women is actually dangerous, even though it was previously
approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Hormone therapy was found to
increase the risk of stroke, blood clots, and even breast cancer, but this
would have never been confirmed had clinical trials not been conducted.
Second, clinical trials can be used to compare the effectiveness
of medical practices, especially those used to treat the same ailment or
disease. This is exactly what the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute did
in order to find the best treatment for asthma. Lastly, clinical trials can
give doctors and scientists the perfect opportunities to determine if certain
medical procedures can be combined to create much more potent treatments.
