Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

A Clinical Trial Assessing the Safety, Efficacy, and Delivery of Olive-Oil-Based Three-Chamber Bags for Parenteral Nutrition
Published on: September 20, 2019
Varied acceptance of clinical trial results
1Maryland Medical Research Institute, Baltimore 21210.
Abstract:
The subject of varied acceptance of clinical trial results is discussed in the context of review of trials with which I have been involved and my subjective evaluation of their impact on the practice of clinical medicine. My experience goes back to 1949 and a World Health Organization trial of hyperimmune gamma globulin against rabies. This was followed by a large trial of secondary prevention of poliomyelitis. I participated in the planning and initiation of the first chronic disease trial, the University Group Diabetes Program (UGDP). The latter lasted for 15 years and its ramifications continue to this day. My next trial was the Coronary Drug Project (CDP), a complex trial with more than 8,000 patients. The trials of aspirin and aspirin combined with persantine (the CDPA, AMIS, PARIS I, and PARIS II) followed. My last three trials were a trial of photocoagulation in diabetic retinopathy (DRS), a six-country trial of the antiarrhythmic drug mexiletine (IMPACT), and a study involving two diagnostic procedures for pulmonary embolism (PIOPED). When one considers, in retrospect, the plethora of trials one is struck by the uniform absence of a priori considerations of the impact on medical practice, or likely lack thereof, of possible outcomes.
Related Concept Videos
Clinical Trials
There are four phases in a clinical trial. A phase one...
Blinding
Clinical Trials: Overview
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Bioavailability Study Design: Healthy Subjects Versus Patients
Bioequivalence studies: Biowaivers