International Clinical Trials Day is celebrated around the world on or near May 20 each year. It celebrates the day that James Lind started what is often considered the first randomized clinical trial aboard a ship in 1747. He wanted to see whether his belief that the introduction of acids might cure scurvy was correct, and chose 12 men to test 6 different daily treatments.
Frontier (Australia) alumni and former director, David Briggs, has Multiple Myeloma, an incurable but treatable cancer. He has taken part in four clinical trials and discusses this in an interview and video that promotes the importance of these trials and encourages those who can to consider participating in them. At Frontier Economics, we fully support the notion of testing hypotheses and working with empirical evidence. Happy International Clinical Trials Day!