When it comes to clinical trials of new drugs, many people find them very mysterious, and there are many people who mistakenly believe that clinical research means experimenting on patients and treating people as rats. Patients who participate in clinical trials are also often skeptical about whether clinical trials will cause harm to their own bodies, and it’s normal to have such concerns, since the drugs are not officially on the market. However, the truth is not as we feared, but all the patients who have participated in the clinical study said they are willing to participate again, why is this? Lulu Chen, Department of Endocrinology, Wuhan Union Medical College Hospital First of all, let’s understand what a clinical trial is. A clinical trial is simply a systematic study of a new drug in humans (patients or healthy volunteers) before it is marketed. Clinical trials allow us to understand the efficacy of a new drug in humans, whether there are any toxic side effects, how many side effects, etc. In China as well as in other countries, clinical trials can be used to study the efficacy of a new drug in human beings. Whether in China or in other countries, all new drugs must undergo clinical trials before they can be marketed. Clinical trials are crucial to ensure the safety of people’s use of new drugs after they are launched on the market. Clinical trials of new drugs are divided into phase I, II, III and IV. (1) Phase I clinical trial is to observe its safety and pharmacokinetics, human tolerance, how metabolized in the human body, finished is to see how much the maximum human tolerance, from which to choose an amount recommended to the second phase, this amount is to give the patient with the amount of treatment, because the toxicity of the drug and metabolism to observe the process, so it needs to be carried out in the body of a healthy person. (2) Phase II clinical trial is the preliminary evaluation stage of the therapeutic effect. A preliminary evaluation of the effectiveness and safety of the new drug is made and provides a basis for designing phase III clinical trials and determining the dosage regimen to be administered. Take, for example, the development of a new antitussive drug for the treatment of arthritis. The Phase II clinical study will determine how effective the drug is in relieving pain passages in patients with arthritis, and will also determine the incidence of adverse effects at different doses to determine the dose at which pain is adequately relieved but adverse effects are minimized. (3) Phase Ⅲ clinical trials after phase Ⅱ clinical trials on the efficacy and safety of the determination, expand the number of diseases, expand the number of people, observation, after three phases of the basic after expert review of this drug can be marketed. (4) Phase Ⅳ clinical trials Phase Ⅳ clinical trials of the drug is not a new drug, but has been listed on the drug, is in the listing of a wider range of longer-term practical application to continue to examine the efficacy and adverse reactions. From the above introduction, it can be seen that the clinical trials that really enter the clinic to select patients for clinical trials are drugs whose safety and efficacy have been verified. Therefore, the clinical research is carried out under the premise of not harming the interests of the patient but may bring benefits to the patient, and before the application of the new drug, the doctor will explain to the patient the possible efficacy of the new drug used and the adverse effects, treatment measures, and to obtain the written consent of the patient. Patients are allowed to participate in the trial of new drugs where indicated, which is beneficial to both treatment and the development and research of new drugs. The National Cancer Care Network (NCCN), a clinical guideline development organization in the United States, clearly states in its guidelines that “the best treatment for a patient is enrollment in a clinical trial”. In our clinical work, we have seen a lot of patients hear of “clinical trials” that “talk about fear”, but for those in the press, the media and other publicity under the title of drug in fact, even the drug does not even have the number of health care products but enjoy, in fact, any kind of clinical trials of drugs than those of the drug. In fact, any clinical trials of drugs than those advertised “drugs” to be much safer. We can often see that when new drugs are verified through clinical trials, they are marketed one after another, while those advertised drugs such as “Bitter Luck”, “Golden Bitter Gourd”, “Sugar Lipids Ning” and so on are many other “drugs” that have become popular. The popular “drugs” were finally recognized as fake and withdrawn from the market, in which many patients paid the price of their lives, but no one was responsible for their lives. Patients who have participated in clinical studies are willing to do so again, not only because it is safe, but also because no matter what problems they encounter, they are able to keep in touch with their doctors in a timely manner, just as if they were full-time doctors, and therefore most of the patients have become friends with their doctors after the trial. In addition, as a participant in a clinical study, they are able to have free checkups and free access to the new drug, saving themselves a considerable amount of money on medical expenses. What’s not to love about that?