Everyone remembers the penicillin story and the wise, brooding face of Alexander Fleming – but what people probably don’t know is what was going on in his mind when he came across the fungus from the Penicillium genus. But behind the groundbreaking discovery was something all researchers probably share: the drive and desire to satisfy their curiosity about the world.

Sir Fleming didn’t have to continue isolating the mold that was become penicillin while he was working, but he did anyway because something seemed out of place. And when he did, the world changed, and for the better but his discovery wasn’t exactly the clinical research. Trials, experiments, and widespread use that followed were all steps of research and establishing penicillin as a fundamental part of modern medicine.

That’s clinical research – a little bit of wonder, lots of curiosity, abundant patience, and a fascination with the world as it could be.

There’s no singular, isolated beginning of clinical research. It’s been in human societies for as long as civilization has existed. One of the first known clinical pseudo-trials – following a king’s command that his subjects eat only meat and drink wine – took place in Babylon around 562 BC.[1] Like every kingdom, King Nebuchadnezzar’s too had dissenters. Some wanted to eat vegetables, so he let them – but only for 10 days. This would turn out to be the first “trial,” albeit biblical. Other pioneering clinical trials include trials within controlled groups of ginseng, a widely-used compound in Chinese medicine.

Today, clinical trials aren’t much different other than that they follow the scientific method: that trials should be repeatable by someone else, methodologies should be consistent, and research should support or falsify a hypothesis. These trials can be observational – where scientists follow the activities of a particular group of people to draw conclusions – or they can be experimental, where voluntary participants are given a new treatment or drug and then observed. 

The purpose of clinical research is invariably to modify the relationship humans share with the natural world. Take for instance vaccines for COVID-19. Not only did clinical research during the pandemic introduce the world’s first mRNA vaccines to the global market, but it also allowed humans to fight back against a virus that was spreading, and still is, at an unprecedented pace.

Research in modern medicine explores solutions to chronic illnesses like kidney disease and liver failure, ex-vivo transplantation, and even plant-based medicine like birth control.

Ultimately, it is the curiosity of a few million across the globe that will keep embracing innovation and creating a constantly evolving ecosystem for humans and other species.

Whether nature’s delicate balance is disrupted by research is a conversation to be had after its pros and cons have been weighed.

Until next time!