What is Clinical Research?

Clinical research is defined as the study of drug, biologic or device in human subjects with the intent to discover potential beneficial effects and/or determine its safety and efficacy. Also called clinical study and clinical investigation. It is the systematic measures used to assess safety & efficacy of new medicines. They compare the new treatment under evaluation with a placebo or the previous standard treatment. 

Before a pharmaceutical company can initiate testing in humans, it must conduct extensive preclinical or laboratory research. This research typically involves years of experiments in animal and human cells. The compounds are also extensively tested in animals. If this stage of testing is successful, a pharmaceutical company provides this data to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), requesting approval to begin testing the drug in humans. This is called an Investigational New Drug application (IND). 

Back to What Can I Do with a Major In...