Passage B Before you swallow that pill prescribed from your doctors, have you ever wondered what sort of tests
has been done to ensure it is good for you, or is it even safe? Currently, before drugs are sold to consumers,
at least four phases of premarket studies are done by researchers.
The first study or phase one is usually an animal study if a close enough physiology is found in that
animal to humans. The aim of giving the drug to animals is to protect the lives of humans as it is more
ethically correct to save valuable human lives rather than prevent animal fatalities. The next three phases include three clinical studies and only proceeds once the first phase is passed. In
phase two, the most initial test on people is done on very few healthy volunteers to check that there are no
severe side effects. Phase three is also known as an efficacy study (a study to see if there are any benefits
and/or side effects) and is done on patients with disease. This number, however, is still kept very small –
about 200 to 500 volunteers – to save resources and not waste volunteers’ time if the drug is not effective in
treating their diseases.
Phase four includes extensive clinical trials on a greater number of patients (still volunteers) so that
researchers can deduce that the drug actually works for all patients by ruling out random error. Upon the completion of the above four phases, the drug is allowed to be sold and should be safe for
widespread use.
【題組】37. According to the article, when drugs are tested on people with diseases, why are only a small number
used?
(A) To save resources.
(B) To waste volunteers’ time if the drug is not effective in treating their diseases.
(C) To save trouble recruiting healthy volunteers.
(D) To help build excitement towards the commercial release of the drug by making it an elusive,
hard-to-reach item.
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