Lab 4: Testing Medicines: Scientifically

Warm Up: What did you learn about testing medications from Lab 3? ( give 3)

Vocabulary:
1. clinical trial – Products such as medicines are tested by volunteers before they are made available to the public.
2. control – the object that does not get changed
3. informed consent – the United States has regulations to ensure that each individual is fully informed of the risks and can decide whether to participate.
4. placebo/placebo effect – a control that simulates a medicine but does not have the active ingredient in it
5. trade-offs – is something given up in selecting one alternative over another

Stt1.
Stt2.a.
Stt2.b.
Stt3.a.
Stt3.b.
Stt3.c.
Stt4.

Analysis Questions:
1. In clinical trials of medications, why is one group of volunteers given a placebo? Explain.

2. Activity 3, "Testing Medicines: Clinical Trial," simulate a clinical trial that investigated whether a headache medicine was effective. A person reporting a better or worse taste with the blue lemon drink (compared with the yellow lemon drink) represented a person feeling better after taking a pill for headache relief. In the simulation:

a. What represented the medicine?

b. What represented the placebo?

c. Look at your data, how many people experienced the placebo effect?

d. Look at your data, how many people in the placebo group were unaffected by the placebo?

3. Imagine a clinical trial to test a treatment for serious illnesses, such as heart disease or cancer. What is the trade-off for giving placebos to some people participating in this clinical trial? What is the benefit for giving placebos to some people participating in this clinical trial?