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The research landscape: basic, applied, and the clinical trial pipeline

A clinical trial moves through numbered phases, and each phase asks a different question of a larger group. Phase 1 enrolls tens of people and asks whether the drug is safe. Phase 2 enrolls hundreds and looks for an effect. Phase 3 enrolls thousands and compares the drug against a placebo or an existing treatment, under random assignment. Fewer than fifteen percent of candidates entering Phase 1 are ever approved, and the first malaria vaccine took more than 35 years to reach a WHO recommendation.

Also covered: Basic research · Applied research · Health services research · ClinicalTrials.gov registry · WHO clinical trial definition · RTS,S malaria vaccine