Midland Hub for Trials Methodology Research at University of Birmingham

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Clinical trials test potential treatments in humans to see if they should be approved for wider use in the general population. Any new treatment must be extensively tested to check that it benefits patients, is safe and doesn t have unacceptable side effects. Most often the treatment is a drug, but it could be a medical device, a surgical or physical procedure, a therapy or an intervention such as health promotion. Volunteers are recruited into the clinical trial to undergo the new treatment and usually the trial will include a group who just receive the standard treatment. In this way, the outcome of patients on the new treatment can be compared to the standard to see if it is beneficial. Planning how the trial will be run and making sure it addresses the right questions are important to ensure that the results from the trial will be useful. Interpreting the data that is collected in the trial also needs to guarantee that valid conclusions are reached. The plan for this research is to create a regional facility at the University of Birmingham in which to investigate the best ways to design, conduct and analyse trials, providing advice, support and training to those carrying out trials and to the public. Ultimately this will result in beneficial treatments being delivered to patients more efficiently.