Clinical trials are performed throughout the world. These trials are often utilized to test various new medicines and medical treatments. You’ll find that there are typically three main phases in clinical trials. Certain trials are known to reach the fourth phase. It’s understandable to want to learn more about each aspect of a clinical trial including how long they are expected to last. Here is information concerning the duration of multiple phases of a typical clinical trial.
- Phase I
The first phase of a clinical trial involves finding out more information concerning the safety of a medicine or procedure. It’s common for groups of 20-80 people to be involved in a phase 1 clinical trial. In many cases, the average duration of the first phase of a trial is anywhere between a few months to one year. If results are positive during initial phases, clinical drug development will continue. - Phase II
The second phase of a clinical study focuses on obtaining more detailed information about a treatment. Subjects involved the Phase II of a clinical study are often asked to report their own unique results. The second phase of a clinical trial often involves several hundred subjects. In addition, subjects may have various fluids collected and tested to assess results. The second phase of a study will last longer than the first, typically around two years. A clinical drug development study often obtains a lot of highly detailed information during the important second phase. In some situations, subjects might be split into different groups while being administered different treatment combinations. - Phase III
Medical research studies often want to find out more information about long term results for subjects. The third phase of a clinical trial typically involves members from the second phase to continue receiving tests with larger groups of other individuals. It’s common for an average phase three portion of a clinical trial to take multiple years. The results obtained from the third phase of a clinical study can often lead to treatments becoming more widely approved. Many phase 3 trials are known to involve thousands of participants.
In closing, there are several main phases of a clinical trial. Phase one of a clinical trial often involves around 20-80 people. The first phase of a trial focuses on finding out how safe medicine is and it’s potential to induce side effects. Phase two of a clinical trial often brings in more people while looking closer at detailed effects of treatment methods. The third phase of a clinical trial mainly assesses further results from participants from the previous phase in addition to a large number of other people. Phase three of a study involves fewer individuals but often lasts for multiple years. Clinical drug development trials are extremely beneficial for ensuring safe medical treatments are able to be released throughout the world.
