International Clinical Trials' Day is celebrated around the world each year on or close to 20 May, commemorating the day in 1747 on which James Lind began the first known controlled trial, comparing different treatments for scurvy then in common use among sailors in the British Royal Navy. (Watch a video explaining the trial to see history in the making.) International Clinical Trials' Day seeks to raise awareness of the importance of research to health care, and draw attention to ways in which the research can become more relevant to practice.

The European Clinical Research Infrastructures Network (ECRIN) helps to co-ordinate the annual commemoration, providing a focal point for international events, meetings, debates, and other celebrations of clinical research. The highlight of each year is a series of public lectures and discussions, held in a different European city. The 2016 celebrations are taking place on May 20th in Prague, Czech Republic. A range of speakers will present a variety of relevant topics, including ‘Clinical trials in the era of personalised medicine', with healthcare professionals and researchers from across Europe in attendance.

Learn about Cochrane systematic reviews and how clinical trials are used:

As part of our own commemoration of International Clinical Trials’ Day, Cochrane presents the eighth annual series of specially prepared podcasts:

• Analysis bias: Mike Clarke, podcast editor for Trials Change Lives, based at the Northern Ireland Hub for Trials Methodology Research in Queen’s University Belfast discusses the general need to keep biases out of trials by looking at the specific challenge of minimizing bias when the results are being analyzed.
• Aspirin and stroke trials: Peter Sandercock from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland tells us how two randomised trials, with 40,000 patients in more than 800 hospitals, changed clinical practice for tens of millions of people with a stroke.
• Clinical Trials for the NHS: In the UK, the main public funder of healthcare research is the National Institute for Health Research, or NIHR. In this Evidence Pod for Trials Change Lives, we asked Hywel Williams, Director of the NIHR’s Health Technology Assessment programme to outline the importance of clinical trials to this programme and health and social care more generally.
• Clinical Trials Unit: A key part of the infrastructure for clinical trials in the UK is provided by more than 50 Clinical Trial Units spread across the country. We asked Julia Brown, Director of the Clinical Trial Units’ Network to tell us about their work and their contribution to ensuring that trials change lives.
• Exercise trials: Being physically active can have beneficial effects on our physical and mental health, but the UK population as a whole doesn’t meet the current Government guidelines. Dr Ruth Hunter, Lecturer in Physical Activity and Public Health/NIHR Career Development Fellow, UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health, at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland describes some of the innovative approaches that her team are testing to encourage people to be more active.
• GP Trials. General practitioners are key to both the conduct of clinical trials and the uptake of their results. Carol Sinnott a GP from Cork in Ireland tells us how they have helped her to change lives.

Read about a Cochrane Review  that used previouly unpublished clinical trial data. Cochrane Review researchers get unpublished data from study sponsors to evaluate effects of new medication used to treat women with advanced ovarian cancer. Alison J Wiggans, a researcher at Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset, UK and joint lead author of the Cochrane Review said:  “Astra Zeneca were extremely helpful in releasing previously unpublished data. It’s important that future reviews, both in oncology and in other fields, look not just published results in academic journals, but also look for unpublished data and ongoing trials to get an accurate overview.”

Post and find other relevant information and resources on Twitter by using the hashtag #ICTD2016.