What is compassionate use? The term ‘compassionate use’ refers to special programmes set up to make unauthorised medicines available to patients. In particular, this may be a way of...
Participant adherence is an essential part of every clinical trial and means ‘the extent to which participants follow the instructions they have been given for participating in the clinical...
During clinical development the manufacturing and distribution facilities available may not be suitable for a trial medicine (investigational medicinal product (IMP)), however, IMPs must be manufactured, stored and distributed...
Medicine adherence (also known as ‘patient adherence’ or ‘compliance’) is how well patients follow doctors’ instructions about the timing, frequency, and dosage when taking a medicine.
A Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) is a group of independent individuals, external to the trial, who are experts in relevant areas. They review the accumulated data from clinical...
‘Within-trial decisions’ are decisions made once a clinical trial has already begun, for instance if an unexpected problem comes to light. This article looks at two specific kinds of...
To obtain clinical trial approval, a Clinical Trial Application must be submitted to regulatory bodies and a Research Ethics Committee who review the protocol and gives a positive or...
Patient advocates can be involved in early clinical development through partnerships and working relationships with regulatory authorities, ethics committees, investigators, and industry. They can provide input and play an...
Early clinical trials (Phase I and II) must establish above all that an investigational medicinal product is safe for humans, as well as to show that the medicine is...
In Phase II trials, the investigational medicinal product is tested for efficacy (and safety). The studies conducted are typically therapeutic exploratory studies which try to discover whether the medicine...
