What is Clinical Research?

Clinical research uses volunteers to test new treatments. A drug company must do a large amount of preclinical, or lab research, before they can do clinical research. Many years are spent on studies in animal and human cells. The drug is also tested at length in animals. If this testing goes well, then a drug company sends the results to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in an Investigational New Drug application (IND). This is done so that the company can be approved to test their drug in humans.