Scientific American
COVID Showed How Trials for New Drugs Could Be Faster and Better
The pandemic has spotlighted ways to make clinical trials easier on patients and better for science, a heart drug researcher says
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A dozen years and a billion or more dollars —that is what it typically takes to bring a new drug from the lab to your medicine cabinet. Testing medications on patients has become a slow, arduous process. People, even those who are desperate to participate, often have to travel long distances to a study site and make the trip over and over again. For scientists, coordinating the paperwork among a large number of research centers can be extremely laborious and time-consuming.