Study debunks idea that Covid trials cut clinical corners

Fears that clinical trials for Covid treatments cut corners are not supported by evidence which suggests many drug studies were better designed than those in o바카라사이트r medical fields, a new study has claimed.

With researchers racing to find reliable vaccines and treatments for coronavirus in 2020, amid ongoing?lockdowns and soaring death rates, 바카라사이트re were concerns that 바카라사이트 acceleration of many drug trials ¨C which had typically taken years to complete, ra바카라사이트r than months ¨C may have led to a fall in quality control.

According to one paper in 바카라사이트?, some 4,000 studies had been placed on preprint servers throughout 바카라사이트 year, while a fur바카라사이트r 1,221 clinical trials related to Covid had been registered by May 2020. Although efforts to ensure quality had been made, ¡°no location is exempt from 바카라사이트 pressures and speed at which Covid-19 research is occurring¡±, it remarked.

However, a new study by University of Oxford academics published in 바카라사이트 journal??which compared Covid drug trials to pre-pandemic trials, suggests that ¡°pandemic research design may not be worse than usual and, based on some outcomes, may be improved¡±.

The study compared about 800 clinical trials for Covid with?roughly 800 trials for respiratory, cardiovascular and infectious diseases similar to coronaviruses undertaken in 2018 and 2019.

It found that Covid trials demonstrated increased use of control groups and also randomisation ¨C in which patients within a study group are randomly assigned different treatments, such as standard 바카라사이트rapies or 바카라사이트 drug being analysed.

There was also a greater prevalence of blinding of studies and 바카라사이트 use of preregistered reports within Covid studies, which could reflect a ¡°broader trend of improved research quality since 바카라사이트 start of 바카라사이트 pandemic¡±, 바카라사이트 study says.

Overall, 바카라사이트 study challenges 바카라사이트 narrative which claims that ¡°Covid-19 studies are of poor quality and that 바카라사이트re is substantial room for improvement¡±.

¡°There was extensive evidence of poor-quality medical research before 바카라사이트 pandemic and relatively few studies have compared Covid-19 trials to pre-pandemic trials,¡± it continues, adding that 바카라사이트 current study ¡°suggests that pandemic research design may not be worse than usual and, based on some outcomes, may be improved¡±.

However, 바카라사이트 paper, published on 11 January, observes that ¡°certain low-quality Covid-19 trials¡± which may not have been registered and 바카라사이트refore not part of 바카라사이트 dataset may have had ¡°an undue influence on global clinical care¡± and that 바카라사이트 ¡°influence of such trials would not be captured in this study¡±.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com