| All
new drugs must complete a series of tests before they can be prescribed
by doctors or sold in chemists shops. The work carried out by
Charles River is part of the testing process. Before any
clinical trial can take place, the new drug undergoes a range of
laboratory tests. A clinical trial will not be started unless
experts believe that the drug is safe.
Each trial needs a different group of
volunteers. Volunteers are selected by a number of factors including age, sex, height and weight.
Clinical trials can show how fast the
drug travels around the body, how long it stays in the body and whether
eating affects the speed at which the drug enters the blood from the
stomach. The studies are supervised at all times by fully trained
doctors and nurses.Full information regarding each study will be available for each volunteer and there will also be an Informed Consent document for discussion before the volunteers commit themselves. Both the information and document will be reviewed and approved by the Edinburgh Independent Ethics Committee for Medical Research. This is a group of independent advisors which includes consultant physicians and surgeons, general practitioners, lay persons and nurses. |