UNIT 3 - KA8 Flashcards
Why are vaccines and drugs subjected to clinical trials
Vaccines and drugs are subjected to clinical trials to establish their safety and effectiveness before being licensed for use
What is the design of clinical trials to test vaccines and drugs
The design of clinical trials to test vaccines and drugs involve randomised, double -blind and placebo controlled protocols
Randomised
Subjects in clinical trials are divided into groups in a randomised way to reduce bias in the distribution of characteristics such as age and gender
Double blind trial
In a double blind trial neither the subjects not the researchers know which groups subjects are in to prevent biased interpretation of results
Placebo controlled
One group of subjects receives the vaccine or drug while the second group receives a placebo control to ensure valid comparisons
The importance of group size in reducing experimental error and establishing statistical significance
At the end of the trial, results from the two groups which must be of a suitable size to reduce the magnitude of experimental error are compared to determine whether there are any statistically significant differences between the groups