Prevention trials are, as the name implies, designed to perfect new ways of making sure a disease never occurs or to make sure a disease doesn’t come back. A diagnostic trial seeks to determine faster and better ways to discover new diseases, while screening trials look at finding diseases. Finally, quality of life trials seek ways to make people suffering from long-term, debilitating diseases or illnesses have a better quality of life.

Phases Mark Each Step

Clinical trials are conducted in phases, with each having a different purpose. The Phase I trial is typically small, less than 100 people and is used to check dosage, side effects, and the overall safety of any drug or treatment.

Phase II monitors up to 300 people and continues to look at the safety factor of any proposed drug or treatment. Phase III trials expand to up to 3,000 people and are used to confirm the earlier studies. This is when the focus is critical, as the new treatments will be compared to older ones, and dosages will be carefully calibrated to determine the safe ranges.

Finally, a Phase IV trial is conducted after a drug or treatment is approved for public use. This tracks information and monitors the risks and benefits of the new method, making sure that there were no unintended consequences from the release.

If You Participate

Unlike Captain America’s clinical trial, the tests conducted in the United States have already shown that they can be more effective than prior methods. Testing on human beings is considered a sacred privilege by the scientific and medical communities, and safety is the primary concern. By the time human testing begins, there is reasonable certainty that the treatment at least will be safe.