Clinical trials are ailing
Britain invented clinical trials. Now it wants to reinvent them
IN MAY 1941 Archie Cochrane was captured by the Germans. Clever, curious and bored, the young doctor passed the time in his Greek prisoner-of-war camp treating his fellow inmates—and conducting trials on them. In one, he measured the effects of yeast consumption on beriberi (it worked splendidly). In another, he tried international relations: did Yugoslav prisoners like British ones more or less after meeting them? (The results “were depressing”.) But one question obsessed him: did his medical treatments work? Too often, he wrote, “I had no idea whether I was doing more harm than good.”
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Trials and errors”
Britain February 26th 2022
- Britain’s post-Brexit trade policy is slowly maturing
- After Brexit, Nigel Farage has net zero in his sights
- England’s coronavirus regulations are no more
- Too many British prisoners are still serving indefinite sentences
- Running Britain's national lottery is not as easy as it was
- Clinical trials are ailing
- Crisis in the NHS in 2022 will damage the Conservatives
From the February 26th 2022 edition
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