Clinical trials are specifically designed to test the effects of up and coming pharmaceutical products. Clinical trials rely upon volunteers to participate under the supervision of a study physician and other research staff members selected by the pharmaceutical company. The purpose of a clinical trial is to evaluate investigational drugs for safety, tolerability and effectiveness. All clinical trials must be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) before the trials commence. This process helps ensure those patients rights as participants are protected.

Volunteers in a clinical trial are randomly assigned to a specific study group which may be one of the following:
(1) A group receiving an investigational medication;
(2) A group receiving a placebo (sugar pill); or
(3) A group receiving a comparator medication already available on the market.

In most studies, neither the research team nor volunteer knows which product was assigned to each group. This ensures that the research teams remain unbiased when assessing the volunteers results. All volunteers will be treated equally, no matter what assignment the group has received.