Clinical Trial: Gold Standard or Flop?

INTRODUCTION

Clinical trials have long been considered by the medical fraternity as the gold standard for
approval of new drugs and treatment methodologies. Pioneered by Dr James Lind while
searching for a cure for scurvy back then in 1747, it has since evolved into a sector that seen
almost a million trials to date, and is estimated to be worth tens of billions annually. However,
the question remains, should results produced by Clinical Trials be treated as authoritative, or
are they spurious?

BODY

The issue with clinical trials

Currently, there are two main types of clinical trials. The first ensures that a drug is safe for
human consumption and performs as advertised. The second seeks to compare between
different treatment options to find out the most effective drug for any illness.

The former is privately funded by laboratories, who have a vested interest in the success of the
drug, and raises worries about the potential conflict of interest.

The latter is not performing any better; although significantly smaller than the former, is still a
substantial sum. Usually funded by governments, these research are not cheap too. The
Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), the statuary board responsible for such
grants, offers varying grant amounts, from one million over two years, to S$25 million over five
years. All in all, the 2016 budget has allocated a staggering S$4 billion per annum till year
2020.

Despite such high levels of publically funded investment, uncertainty over the quality still
looms a substantial percentage, with some experts placing the number at 50%, are
producing statistically uncertain results. Not only so, but it has been hypothesised that large
swaths of information pertaining to effectiveness of treatments are erroneous.

Sources:
EDB: https://www.edb.gov.sg/content/edb/en/industries/industries/pharma-biotech.html

SG Budget: http://www.asianscientist.com/2016/01/topnews/rie2020-rnd-budget-singapore/

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Teo Jun Hong

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