Communicable diseases

• Explain what testing must be done before a new drug can be used to treat people [6]

  • pre-clinical trials of the new drug on cells/tissues/live animals
  • to test for toxicity, dosage and efficacy
  • clinical trials/test on healthy volunteers and patients at very low doses
  • so that you can monitor for side effects
  • only then do trials to find optimum dosage and test for efficacy
  • double blind trial/ use of placebo
  • which does not contain new drug
  • random allocation of patients to groups
  • so no one knows who has placebo/ new drug
• Why are some patients in a drug trial given a placebo?

  as a control or to compare the effects of treatment vs no treatment
• Why should drugs be tested?

  • to check they are safe
  • to check they are effective
  • to work out right dosage
  • to check for side effects