clinical trials

One of the most famous passages from the Bible is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, which inspired the Byrds' song Turn Turn Turn. Here is an excerpt:

Today, Vladimir Putin announced that Russian regulators have approved the world's first coronavirus vaccine. He's so confident in it that he claims that one of his daughters has been vaccinated already.

There are a plethora of drugs and vaccines in the pipeline to treat or prevent COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. How many of them are likely to be successful?

The endless daily reports of possible vaccines and potential drugs to treat coronavirus all mention the need for clinical trials before the drug or a vaccine can be approved for use, but without making it clear what the trial involve.

# From The Latest Hydroxychloroquine Data, As of April 11.

When you practice medicine, you are often tethered to your smartphone.

A premature infant is born with a form of severe lung injury that carries a 20% chance of survival. Her physician decides to throw a medical “Hail Mary” and try an untested adult technique to bypass the injured lungs.

Imagine your wife suffers a cardiac arrest in the middle of the night and remains unconscious. You start CPR and tell your granddaughter to call 911.

"Clinical trial" is a nice way of saying "human medical experiment." Experimenting on humans is ethical, so long as the people who volunteer give informed consent and receive a treatment that is thought to be medically beneficial.

clinical trial via shutterstock