Biomedicine And Its Two Stages

We are all taught since childbirth that science is a very vast subject which actually is true. It has branches in all spheres and hence completely surrounding our lives. Talking specifically of medicine, there are several sub branches, one amongst which is bio medicine. This is that field of medical science that deals with or is dedicated towards the theory of all medicines. Its principles are based on the results of researches conducted in other fields which further prove their dependency on each other. Be it as big as pathology, the study of different body parts or as small as genetics, the study of the genes present in cells, all have something or the other to contribute. The area where is the difference comes in comparison to traditional medication methodologies is that while the traditional mode is more application oriented, bio medicine is more inclined towards making new discoveries. They are more specific and more elaborate at the same time.

Biomedicine can be further distributed into two sub sections namely, clinical research and preclinical research. As the names already suggest, the clinical research is the section that deals with understanding the results of various drugs and pharmaceutical medicines which may include their side effects, their actual effects and the methods used in its formulation. Preclinical research on the other hand is based on the procedures that need to be taken care of before the clinical research begins.

As opposed to the usual understanding, it is the preclinical study that holds great importance compared to the clinical research. While clinical research is necessary, before that stage is reached, there is a lot to do in terms of understanding the processes in hand. Testing on animals and studying their results is important before the same can be done on humans. There are a large number of complications that arise because it becomes almost impossible to keep track of everything. There are similarities to be found, judgments to be made and relations to be established. No wonder most of the time of any research project is taken up by the preclinical section. Realizing this, steps are now being taken to reduce this timeframe by increasing the efficiency and consolidating the research work.

Given the importance of preclinical health research, one should not do the mistake of taking clinical research for granted. Once the primary step is a success, testing the findings on humans begins. Groups of people are accumulated (known as subjects) and the drugs tested on them. Regular screening takes place to analyze the effects and come to a conclusion. If there are other medicines for the same kind of study, comparisons are done with the statistics obtained from those of them.

Ironically, most of the studies or researches never reach the clinical stage. If there are no significant results in the preclinical stage, no further steps are taken on that front. Nothing is confirmed unless there are strong medical statements supporting it. If one finding works on one animal but does not on the other, it is deemed useless.