Clinical Trials Articles

Purpose & Ideals

Clinical Trial Innovation: Putting the Patient First in Clinical Trial Design

Every day, across the United States and around the world, scientists are developing potential new medicines and vaccines that could change lives. But to get medicines and vaccines to the patients who need them most, they must first undergo a clinical trial, which is a research study that seeks to understand how potential medicines and other medical treatments work.These studies depend on the generosity of participants, who volunteer to be a part of the trial. Depending on the type of trial...

Programs & Initiatives

The Importance of Returning Clinical Trial Data to Participants

Clinical trial participants are at the heart of medical research, and it’s with their help that Pfizer is able to bring life-changing treatments to patients.But, until recently, clinical trial sponsors like Pfizer have not been equipped to provide participants with their own personal clinical trial data when a trial ends. Pfizer’s team of clinical trial experts have worked for many years to change that by launching the Clinical Trial Participant Data Return Initiative.This first-of-its-kind...

Anatomy of a Clinical Trial: The Purpose, People, and Phases of Clinical Research

From 2010 to July 2021, ClinicalTrials.gov reports that the number of registered clinical trials more than tripled, growing from 100,208 to 384,288 and counting.1 The race for a COVID-19 vaccine made clinical trials headline news in 2020 and 2021, with thousands of people worldwide volunteering to take part in vaccine studies. Still, for some, the details of what clinical trials do and how they work may not be clear. Judy Sewards, Head of Clinical Trial Experience at Pfizer, offers some...

Translating Technical Language into Plain Language for Clinical Trials

"Adjuvant therapy." "Pharmacologic effect." "Standard-of-care." These aren't terms used by most people in everyday conversation. But this kind of medical terminology has long been a part of clinical trial summaries, making it daunting for many people to understand what they're reading. Pfizer is working to change this by releasing results of clinical trial studies to the general public in language that’s meant to be understood by people of all backgrounds: plain language. The goal of the...

Living & Wellbeing

Do You Have What It Takes to Join a Phase 1 Clinical Trial?

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.  For some, volunteering at their local food bank is a preferred way to give back. Some donate money to organizations or non-profits they believe in. Others donate blood. But there is another way people can give back that may not be as top of mind: Participating in clinical trials. Clinical trials are critical to the progression of medical research and they rely on people who are willing...

Purpose & Ideals

Doing Better: Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials

Diversity in clinical trials is key to equitable health outcomes. Increasingly, clinicians, researchers and patients are realizing that a lack of diversity in clinical trial participants may contribute to the stubborn persistence of health disparities, such as the fact that Black Americans are 30% more likely than whites to die prematurely of heart disease.1 After all, if a clinical trial for a new nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) drug doesn’t include an adequate number of Black participants...

Is Remote Clinical Trial Monitoring Here to Stay?

By the end of February 2021, just over one year since the novel coronavirus emerged and disrupted our lives, approximately 136 million people worldwide had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.1 Interestingly, the disruption itself fueled the innovation that allowed such rapid development and deployment of the vaccine. Government issued stay-at-home orders, combined with a desire to protect researchers and the public from infectious disease, made it highly challenging to conduct...

The Phases of a Clinical Trial

Understanding the Phases of Clinical Trials Prescription drugs don’t just show up on pharmacy shelves one day. Each one is first subjected to thorough scientific testing during what are known as clinical trials. Clinical trials are conducted in phases, each of which is designed to assess a treatment or drug’s safety as well as answer different questions researchers may have about a drug or treatment. Clinical trial phases range from phase 0 to phase 4.

Differences Can Make a Big Difference

People from different racial and ethnic groups have different biological responses to both diseases and their treatment. Whether we are talking about liver cancer in Asians, asthma and stroke in African-Americans, or diabetes in Hispanics, these are just a few of the devastating chronic diseases that affect different groups at different rates. Scientists and doctors argue about "cause and effect" here — how much is genetic and how much is a result of diet and other factors. One thing is for sure...

Exploring the Manufacturing and Testing Processes of Pharmaceuticals

When a doctor prescribes you a medicine, how does she know it could be helpful? Your doctor relies on experience, medical knowledge and training, but also on information and conclusions drawn from clinical trials. Clinical trials are research studies that test a medical intervention aimed at treating, diagnosing, or preventing a disease or health condition in human volunteers. The intervention could be a drug, a medical procedure or device, or a behavioral therapy, such as diet or exercise. Some...

Clinical Trial Practices—Safeguards in Research

If you or a loved one is considering joining a clinical trial, you may be happy to know that research studies today have strict safeguards, standards of ethics, and are highly regulated. In many cases, participating in this type of research may be one of the most closely monitored types of medical treatment available. The clinical trial process is different than it used to be, yet unfortunately the accounts and memory of practices that no longer exist may still make people uneasy about...

Joining a Clinical Trial: What to Know Before You Enroll

As a scientist who has been involved in running clinical trials for the past 30 years, I have seen first-hand how patients have contributed to and benefited from participating in a clinical trial. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to thank all of the many clinical trial participants who have taken part in research over the years. Because they enrolled in trials, new promising therapies have been understood in terms of safety and efficacy, and new therapies have become available to help...