What is a Double-Blind Trial?

When drugs are being trialed for their effectiveness, there are typically several stages. Double-blind trials are seen as the most reliable type of study because they involve neither the participant nor the doctor knowing who has received what treatment. The aim of this is to minimize the placebo effect and minimize bias. Image Credit: AllaBond/Shutterstock.com How they work In double-blind […]

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Ischemia trial validates current practice standards

The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) congratulates the investigators of the ISCHEMIA trial on their very important late-breaking research presented today at the American Heart Association 2019 Scientific Sessions. The results of the ISCHEMIA trial are consistent with earlier studies showing medical therapies are essential to keep people safe and help improve quality-of-life, with or without early intervention. […]

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Trial into skin collection of babies blood chemistry seeks to replace invasive sampling

Scientists at the University of Strathclyde are researching a system to measure and monitor blood chemistry levels in premature and sick babies through their skin, which if successful, could eventually replace the need for invasive blood tests. When babies are born early or sick there is a medical need to track levels of electrolytes such as glucose, lactate, sodium and […]

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NIH launches large TB prevention trial for people exposed to multidrug-resistant TB

A large clinical trial to assess treatments for preventing people at high risk from developing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has begun. The study is comparing the safety and efficacy of a new MDR-TB drug, delamanid, with the decades-old TB drug isoniazid for preventing active MDR-TB disease in children, adolescents and adults at high risk who are exposed to adult household members […]

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Chikungunya antibody set to enter clinical trial

A monoclonal antibody against the chikungunya virus developed by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the first monoclonal antibody encoded by messenger RNA to enter a clinical trial. Moderna Inc., a biotechnology firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that is focused on developing mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics, announced the clinical trial earlier this month. The specific antibody against the mosquito-borne […]

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New investigational antibiotic effective against drug-resistant bacteria in phase 2 trial

Results from a phase 2 randomised trial suggest that a new investigational antibiotic is as effective as the current standard-of-care antibiotic for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by several multidrug resistant Gram-negative bacteria. The findings, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, indicated that patients treated with the siderophore-based drug, cefiderocol, had a higher and more sustained […]

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Nurse-led care significantly more successful in treating gout, trial reveals

The research, led by academics at the University of Nottingham and published in The Lancet, has shown that keeping patients fully informed and involving them in decisions about their care can be more successful in managing gout. And the study, which was funded by the charity Versus Arthritis, highlights the importance of individualised patient education and engagement to treat the […]

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Clinical trial investigators violate EU regulations—entries in EU Register are incomplete

According to EU legislation, clinical trials must be prospectively registered in the European Union Clinical Trials Register (EUCTR) and the main results must be reported there one year after completion of the trial. The information is thus publicly available. But in fact, results are only reported for half of drug trials (49.5 percent). According to an analysis recently published in […]

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New compound advances into Phase 1 trial for pancreatic cancer

A compound discovered at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) has advanced into a Phase 1 trial for metastatic pancreatic cancer. Called CEND-1 (scientifically known as iRGD), the compound was exclusively licensed in 2015 to a private company, DrugCendR Inc. The drug candidate was discovered in the laboratory of Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., distinguished professor at SBP and founder, […]

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Ethiopian 7-year trial finds that childhood eye infection increases after antibiotic program ends

Continuous mass distribution of azithromycin in northern Ethiopia, where the childhood eye infection trachoma is a major cause of blindness, is effective in preventing recurrence of trachoma but does not eliminate the infection entirely, according to a new study in PLOS Medicine by Jeremy Keenan and colleagues from the University of California in San Francisco, USA and the Carter Center […]

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