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Clinical Trials

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Vaccine Protocols

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Medicine™ ((MIMM,volume 4))

Abstract

The transition from laboratory testing to evaluation in humans marks an important stage in vaccine development. Questions about safety and benefit to the patient and to the community may raise difficult ethical issues, whereas the inherent variability of human responses must be taken into account to obtain valid estimates of vaccine effect. This latter requirement explains why a coherent statistical framework for the design, analysis, and interpretation of clinical trials is regarded as essential today. A vast body of experience and methodology has been developed since the 1940s, when the scientific method was first applied systematically to the evaluation of vaccines. A striking feature of clinical trial research is its broad collaborative nature, involving laboratory, epidemiological, clinical, and statistical skills. As a consequence, rather than attempt to describe in detail the planning and conduct of clinical trials, this chapter will review the broad principles and stages involved in evaluating vaccines in humans, using examples from the literature. Details of methodological and other issues of particular relevance to vaccine evaluation are provided in Section 3.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Statistics Unit, PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, London, UK

    Paddy Farrington & Elizabeth Miller

Authors
  1. Paddy Farrington
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  2. Elizabeth Miller
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, Porton Down, UK

    Andrew Robinson , Graham H. Farrar  & Christopher N. Wiblin ,  & 

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© 1996 Humana Press Inc, Totowa, NJ

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Farrington, P., Miller, E. (1996). Clinical Trials. In: Robinson, A., Farrar, G.H., Wiblin, C.N. (eds) Vaccine Protocols. Methods in Molecular Medicine™, vol 4. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-334-1:251

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/0-89603-334-1:251

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-334-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-588-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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