Back just 100 years ago, the notion of testing treatments and drugs through randomized clinical trials was unheard of. Clinical trials began to proliferate only in 1800, placebos were first used in 1863 and randomization wasn't introduced until 1923.
But nowadays, clinical trials are the bedrock of medicine - and the stuff of front-page news, with stories trumpeting new findings, while others point to inadequacies and even corruption in clinical trials.
So the summer issue of Stanford Medicine magazine explores clinical trials in a special report, "Trials on trial: Clinical studies under the microscope."
The report's lead story describes the growing complexity of trials, and the repercussions. One result is a slowdown in the development of new drugs, a consequence that Philip Lavori, PhD, professor of health research and policy sums up like this: "It's not just that the pipeline hasn't produced a gusher, but that it's falling to a trickle. We can't continue on the road we're traveling. It's scary - the system is heading toward some sort of cusp."
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