What are clinical trials? Clinical trials are research studies with humans, designed to test new treatments to find better ways to prevent, detect or treat disease1. Clinical trials are also sometimes referred to as interventional trials. The sorts of treatments being investigated include medicines or drugs, cells and other biological products, surgical procedures, radiologic procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, process-of-care changes, preventive care, and other items.2 Clinical trials rely on having members of the general public agree to take part. What happens in a clinical trial? In a clinical trial, participants meet with researchers who go through what the clinical trial will involve. All participants must be advised about the objectives of the research, what is expected of them, as well as any risks that may be experienced during and after the trial. Trials must follow a carefully controlled protocol, which is a plan that describes what researchers will do in the stu

Researchers at The George Institute for Global Health, UK, led by Executive Director Professor Otavio Berwanger, are spearheading a programme of work to transform that way we deliver large-scale clinical trials. This programme is borne out of a recognition of the limitations of the ‘traditional’ clinical trial model – and the health gains (social, environmental and economic) – to be had in investigating pragmatic, innovative and efficient approaches. In both the so-called ‘traditional’ and innovative trial models, the gold standard of randomisation controls for both known and unknown confounding factors that could influence trials outcomes, and represents the optimal method to work out whether a healthcare intervention reduces the risk of patient-important outcomes and so inform clinical practice. Where the two models differ is that the traditional approach requires participants be screened and recruited in a trial site by a team of investigators, and so demands both a

George Health was established in 2014 to commercialise the research of The George Institute. Its businesses, George Medicines and Ellen Medical Devices, benefit from exclusive access to the research, intellectual property, and scientific expertise of the Institute, which enables George Health to execute a profit with purpose strategy to reduce the inequitable social and economic burden of non-communicable diseases globally. Find out more about the work of the George Health businesses here: George Medicines website and Ellen Medical Devices website.