What happens at the end of a trial?

At the end of a trial

All of the information that has been gathered together during the trial is analysed.

The researchers may look at:

• how effective a treatment is
• how safe it is
• whether it has any side effects
• whether it is better than the current treatment (or placebo)
• how much, or how often a treatment should be used

Researchers have a responsibility to make the results of their trial known.

This is usually done by reporting the trial results at medical conferences and in medical journals, and sometimes in the press. This video explores how the results of our trials are communicated to different groups.