Britain is falling behind in clinical trials of medicines
The lead established during the pandemic has been lost
Britain did a lot of things badly during the covid-19 pandemic. But on clinical trials, which test the safety and efficacy of medicines, it did a lot of things remarkably well. It was the first country in the world to approve a covid vaccine, on the back of speedy yet rigorous testing. And at the beginning of the pandemic British scientists set up RECOVERY, the first randomised trial for covid treatments. The discovery that dexamethasone, a cheap steroid, reduced covid deaths by a third is alone estimated to have saved more than 1m lives.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Old standard”
Britain June 3rd 2023
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- Sad little boys: the backlash against Britain’s boarding schools
- Britain is falling behind in clinical trials of medicines
- How should Britain reform rape-trial laws?
- Can British seaweed farms bloom?
- Britain’s new political sorcerer: the Reform Fairy
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