Clinical trials are research studies performed on people aimed at evaluating a medical, surgical, or behavioural intervention. In 1747 aboard a ship in a city called Salisbury in England, a physician named James Lind conducted a clinical trial on a dozen of scurvy patients. The appalling condition of these patients was characterized by symptoms of putrid gums, weak knees, lassitude, and the presence of spots.
James divided the patients into six groups and advised the first group to take a quart of cider a day. The second group to take twenty-five drops of elixir vitriol three times a day, another to take two Spoonfuls of vinegar three times a day, two profoundly affected patients to take a course of seawater, two others to take oranges each and one lemon every day, and the last group to receive an electuary recommended by a hospital surgeon.
The result was that the patients who took oranges and lemons had the most immediate and visible good effects; with one of them at the end of six days fit for duty and the other who was best recovered appointed to attend to the rest of the sick.
Before this remarkable act in the history of clinical trials, there was the case of King Nebuchadnezzar mentioned in the Bible. According to the annals, the world’s first clinical trial recorded in the “Book of Daniel” in The Bible involve Nebuchadnezzar (a king in Babylon) ordering his subjects to eat only meat and to drink only wine with the belief that this diet would keep them in good physical condition.
Stop your pessimism. Stop your sense of futility. Go back to the lab. Go back to development. Go back to clinical trials. Things will work.'
Samuel Broder, American Oncologist
Several young princes who preferred to eat vegetables objected, only for the king to allow these rebels to eat legumes and water albeit for 10 days. After the experiment, it was evident that the vegetarians appeared better nourished than the meat-eaters prompting the king to endorse the legume lovers to continue their diet. This incident led to the conclusion that Nebuchadnezzar's experiment was the first clinical trial conducted in the history of humanity.
Meanwhile, the first clinical therapy of a novel origin was carried out by surgeon Ambroise Pare. In 1537, while serving with the Mariscal De Motigini, where oil that was used in treating wounded soldiers was not enough and he resorted to the use of yolks of eggs, oil of roses, and turpentine. It was to be found that after using this medication, the swelling and inflammation associated with the wounds were gone with the soldiers feeling only a little pain.
