The International Clinical Trials Day is a yearly event and celebration held to commemorate and honor the industry of clinical research especially the professionals in it by recognizing their greatest contributions to medicine and public health.
Specifically, the Clinical Trials Day is held on the 20th of May each year to commemorate the first randomized clinical trial done by James Lind in 1947. There is a lot of useful facts and interesting details about Clinical Trials Day. If you read more down below, you can know what the Clinical Trials Day is and how such an event is celebrated around the world.
What is a Clinical Trial?
A clinical trial is a research study performed by experts from the medical field. It aims to determine if a new drug, diet, or a medical treatment device is safe and effective for the use of people. For example, if doctors have discovered a new drug that can cure a certain disease, they will conduct clinical trials first to determine the side effects of such drug to people and if the drug will be effective in treating the disease. Clinical trials have been performed in revealing the effectiveness of various kinds of medicine that can treat various kinds of diseases. They have served and continues to serve their purpose of saving lives.
History of Clinical Trials Day
Although it would seem like clinical trials are quite new and modern, it actually started way back in the 1700s. Specifically, in 1747, James Lind, a surgeon, was working in one of the ships of the Royal Navy fleet of Britain called the HMS Salisbury. A common disease for sailors during that time was scurvy – a deficiency in vitamin C. Most of those who contracted the disease died due to infection in their gums and excessive bleeding. This was a trivia for James Lind but he thought that he might be able to find the cure for this disease. To do that, he gathered 12 men to run a test on wherein he gave citrus fruits to some and the others did not receive any. This was the first clinical trial test ever conducted. He wanted to determine if giving citrus fruits to people can prevent scurvy. It turned out that scurvy was avoided by those who ate citrus fruits primarily because these fruits are very rich in vitamin C. Nowadays, a lot of medical professionals use clinical trials to find answers to various medical questions.
Celebration of Clinical Trials Day
Since the Clinical Trials Day is an important day especially in the industry of healthcare and medicine, it is celebrated by people from all over the world in many different ways. Below are some of them.
Raising Awareness of Clinical Trials
Though clinical trials are important parts of our lives, not many people know much or are familiar with clinical trials. We might not know that the medicine we buy from drugstores undergone clinical trials first before being approved and release for public consumption. Because of this, the healthcare and medicine industry take the stage during the Clinical Trials Day to inform people about clinical trials and how they help us. Several media outlets even release news, articles, and other important information about clinical trials to disseminate and shed light on what these trials are.
Volunteering for Clinical Trials
Clinical trials, as implied above, are one of the most effective ways used by medicine experts to find out which treatment will help cure various diseases or illnesses, and also which ones can be used to improve how our body functions. However, clinical trials involve people where tests are to be conducted in order to determine whether a drug can be effective or not. Thus, a major activity during Clinical Trials Day is the volunteering of people to participate in clinical trials which are completely safe. And in fact, they even receive payment for participating. If you wish to help researchers in finding the best answers to their questions, you can try to participate in clinical trials.
Research and Call for Papers
Clinical trials are major parts of research studies by medicine experts. That is why during the clinical trials day, many academic institutions in the field of medicine conduct research conferences and presentations in order to showcase the most recent researches with the best contributions towards the advancement of the field of a clinical trial.
Recognition of Outstanding Experts and Professionals
Just like in any other field, there are outstanding experts too in clinical trials. Just as good actresses receive acting awards such as the Oscars, outstanding people in clinical trials also receive recognition. Those with the greatest works and contributions in clinical trials are usually recognized by the industry during Clinical Trials Day. It serves as an inspiration to all professionals and researchers engaged in clinical trial activities to continue doing the best that they can do.