======= Date Modified 02 31 2009 11:31:52 =======
OK, so perhaps this should be on the confessions thread, but I really want this job, it's really interesting, I need the money desperado, and I need to live near my PhD uni (well, that's the way I feel about it anyway - it would get me away from my sid snot niece etc into the boot).

I have an interview for a job working on a medical trial project. Very, very interesting and just what I need. Anyhow, my dilema is thus: I said I had a knowledge of medical trials because people I knew had been through them - somone I am related to somewhere almost certainly has, so this is possible not a lie (see how I navigated the guilt there?). Can you help me flesh this out at interview? Can any of you tell me about a particular medical trial I could use as an example? I would very much appreciate the help of any of you who know about these things from personal or professional experience. I hope this isn't too cheeky.

my mum went on a medical trial for diabetes tablets - not sure if that counts as she wasn't paid to do it, she was given the option compared to going on the usual ones. I know she really wished she hadn't done it now, but don't really know why. I could ask if you want.

Oh Sneaks that would be fabulous, that's so good of you. :-x

======= Date Modified 02 Dec 2009 11:47:45 =======
Hi Eska,



What kind of medical trials? My bf works in this field and I know there are different types eg.. those type of interventional trials which apply and test treatments, new medications or different types of therapy, and then there are those which focus on disease prevention, diagnosis or detection. 

Then (i know a lot of students do these ones) --where you have to fill out questionnaires or give blood/urine samples etc so that they can assess prevalence of disease in certain groups.

COuld you ramble on about the different types of medial trials? I could give you more info and or examples. M,x

We had adverts in our department from a researcher who wanted women 18-35 so he could inflate a balloon in their rectum and take images with MRI. Bloody weird.

Hi Eska

One fairly recent and very big clinical trial I'm familiar with is the use of Memantine as a neuroprotectant in the pathogenesis of glaucoma.

It was an enormous multicentre trial, comparing memantine with currently available glaucoma medications, it did'nt work (and cost allergan an enormous amount of cash, approx 80 million dollars I think), we think this is due to poorly defined clinical endpoints i.e. what you clarify as the appropriate amount of visual field deterioration, and because some of the in-vitro studies have been exposed as being quite flawed.

Key features of clinical trials: Double blindness with randomised controls (so investigators and patients don't know who is in control and treatment groups), Similar baseline characteristics in control vs treatment groups (i.e similar mean age, gender, severity of disease symptoms), appropriate recruitment to trials (so statistical power is sufficiently high), Clearly defined endpoints (for example, in oncology this would normally be percentage five year survival if for life threatening cancers, for the memantine trial I think it was visual field deterioration, over a certain time period).

If you want more info, feel free to send me a message via the website

Cakeman

Thank you cakeman, that is soooo helpful. I have to go out now, but I will defo pm you about this soon. :-x

======= Date Modified 02 Dec 2009 13:28:35 =======
Thank you cakeman, that is soooo helpful. I have to go out now, but I will defo pm you about this soon. :-x

hmmmm the fist of these posts didn't show for a couple of minutes, hence the duplicate.