ClinicalTrials.gov: Definition of a Clinical Trial

Last revised: 
05/14/2015

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a clinical trial as “any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes. Interventions include but are not restricted to drugs, cells and other biological products, surgical procedures, radiological procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, process-of-care changes, preventive care, etc.”

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) defines a clinical trial as: " A research study  in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include placebo or other control) to evaluate the effects of those interventions on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes.” 

Consistent with the definition developed by the WHO, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) defines a clinical trial as “any research project that prospectively assigns people or a group of people to an intervention, with or without concurrent comparison or control groups, to study the cause-and-effect relationship between a health-related intervention and a health outcome. Health-related interventions are those used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome; examples include drugs, surgical procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, educational programs, dietary interventions, quality improvement interventions, and process-of-care changes. Health outcomes are any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants, including pharmacokinetic measures and adverse events.”

The FDA defines an Applicable Clinical Trial (ACT) as follows:

  • Trials of drugs and biologics: controlled clinical investigations, other than Phase 1 investigations, of a product subject to FDA regulation.
  • Trials of biomedical devices: controlled trials with health outcomes of devices subject to FDA regulation, other than small feasibility studies, and pediatric post-market surveillance.

For complete statutory definitions and more information on the meaning of Applicable Clinical Trial, see Elaboration of Definitions of Responsible Party and Applicable Clinical Trial (PDF).