Unit 3.8 - Clinical Trials Of Vaccines And Drugs Flashcards
Why are vaccines and drugs subjected to clinical trials?
To establish their safety and effectiveness before being licensed for use
What should and an affective drug trial designed to test vaccines and drugs be?
Randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled
Why are subjects in Trail is divided into groups in a randomised way?
To reduce bias in the distribution of characteristics such as age and gender
What happens in a double-blind trial?
Neither of the subjects nor the researchers know which group subjects are in to prevent biased interpretation of the results
One group of subjects receive the vaccine or drug well the second group receives a possible control to ensure valid comparisons
Explain the importance of group size and reducing experimental error and establishing statistical significance
At the end of the trails 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