Developing New Medicines
The development of new medicines involves many stages, taking place initially in the research laboratory and then moving into healthy volunteers and patients in clinical settings. Clinical trials in healthy volunteers will only take place after a compound has been tested and determined to meet safety requirements in animals. Similarly, dosing patients with the relevant medical condition will not take place before safety has been preliminarily determined in healthy volunteers under highly-monitored conditions.
Clinical pharmacology studies enable researchers to determine the absorption and break- down of medications by the human body, the effectiveness of these medications as well as common side effects the medications may cause. Research studies are also performed to evaluate new drug delivery methods for existing or new medicines to meet the world’s changing healthcare needs. Volunteer participants are needed for these clinical trials to advance our understanding of new treatments and deliver the much-needed cure for patients.
Pfizer’s search for new treatments spans hundreds of research projects across multiple therapeutic areas including cardiovascular, neurological diseases, infectious diseases, pain, metabolic diseases and oncology.