KA8- Clinical Trials Of Vaccines And Drugs

Question 1

Clinical trials of vaccines and drugs

Answer 1

Vaccines and drugs are subjected to clinical trials to establish their safety and effectiveness before being licensed for use

Question 2

The design of clinical trials to test vaccines and drugs

Answer 2

involves randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled protocols

Question 3

Randomised

Answer 3

Subjects in clinical trials are divided into groups in a randomised way to reduce bias in the distribution of characteristics such as age and gender

Question 4

Double-blind trial

Answer 4

In a double-blind trial neither the subjects nor the researches know which group subjects are in to prevent biased interpretation of the results

Question 5

Placebo-control

Answer 5

One group of subjects receives the vaccine or drug while the second group receives a placebo-control to ensure valid comparisons

Question 6

Group size

Answer 6

At the end of the trial, results from the two groups, which must be of a suitable size to reduce the magnitude of experimental error, are compared to determine whether there are any statistically significant differences between the groups