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Clinical Trials Day 2022

Published on: 20 May 2022

This year celebrates 275 years since the first clinical trial took place.

Clinical Trials Day 2022

Clinical Trials Day aims to raise awareness of clinical research and the important role in plays in the development of new treatments. 

It is held every year on 20 May as it's the anniversary of the first trial that took place in 1747. Scottish naval surgeon’s mate James Lind was aboard HMS Salisbury. Scurvy was rife amongst the sailors, but there were conflicting ideas about how best to treat it. James Lind decided to confront this uncertainty by treating his patients within a clinical trial comparing the proposed remedies. 

He took 12 men experiencing similar symptoms of scurvy, divided them into six pairs and treated each pair for six days with one of the following: cider, elixir of vitriol (diluted sulphuric acid), sea water, spices, vinegar, or two oranges and a lemon. 

There was a noticeable improvement in the pair eating the fruit, providing Lind with the evidence required of the link between citrus fruits and scurvy. Lind conducted what is thought of as the first clinical trial and he laid the foundations for modern clinical research!

If you’d like to know more about clinical trials for lymphoma, you can use our Lymphoma TrialsLink service which includes information about clinical trials and questions to ask about clinical trials before taking part. 

We also have videos covering what is a clinical trial, what happens when you take part in a clinical trial and the possible advantages and disadvantages of taking part in a clinical trial.

We don’t run any clinical trials at Lymphoma Action, but we have a database of clinical trials open in the UK for people affected by lymphoma. If you would like to take part in a clinical trial, you can take the trial summary from our database to your specialist for a discussion.


Source:
James Lind Alliance

Published: 20 May 2022