Testing treatments: better research for better healthcare

Testing Treatments provides a thought-provoking argument, and explains how patients can work with doctors to achieve better, more reliable, more relevant research, with unbiased or 'fair' trials.

This book, aimed at both patients and professionals, is freely available here, and raises questions such as How do we know whether a particular drug, therapy or operation really works, and how well? How reliable is the evidence? Are clinical trials truly unbiased? And is current research focused on the real needs of patients?


A downloadable version of this text is available online here and paperback and eBook copies can be purchased from the publisher, Pinter and Martin.

Freely downloadable texts of the 2006 and 2011 editions of Testing Treatments, together with reviews and translations of the first edition, are available here.

Taking part in research

In February 2010, I posted a blog called Clinical Trials. This post is building on that one because I just wanted to tell you about some updates.

Firstly, the EU Clinical Trials Register website is now open to the public, and allows you to search for information on clinical trials in European Union (EU) member states and the European Economic Area (EEA) and clinical trials which are conducted outside the EU/EEA if they form part of a paediatric plan. This means that you can keep up with details of the latest treatments available, and possibly even become involved.

Also, if you are interested in taking part in research, take a look at researchmatch, which is a registry of volunteers who are interested in taking part in research.

If you decide that you are interested in taking part in a clinical trial, please do look at the previous post,  and do speak to your doctor or other health professional and your family. There are often risks involved and it is vital that you are fully informed.

Clinical trials

With some conditions, the treatment might still be in development. Before it is ready for general release, it needs to be tested on people with the condition. These are called Clinical Trials. They are voluntary. The James Lind Library has been designed to increase general knowledge about tests of treatments. If you are interested in taking part in a clinical trial, the James Lind Library has published guidance here. There is also information about how to find a clinical trial. A good starting point for finding clinical trials is ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the US National Institutes of Health, which currently has details of more than 80,000 trials with locations in 171 countries. Speak to your doctor or nurse if you want to become involved in a trial.