CLINICAL TRIALS DETERMINE THE SAFETY AND USEFULNESS OF NEW TREATMENTSGreat Point Partners

Introduction Great Point Partners (GPP) of Greenwich, Connecticut, is a

health care investment firm. Great Point Partners primarily invests in the United States. GPP has recently recapitalized Clinical Supplies Management, a leading supplier of clinical trials drug packaging.

Clinical trials are used to determine if a medical treatment, medication, or device is safe and effective for use on humans. These research studies help to show which approach works best for specific illnesses or for specific groups of patients. Following a strict protocol, clinical trials for medical products have many steps before the product can reach the stage of human testing, and the product must pass rigorous testing at each phase of the process, or it cannot pass on to the next stage.

Clinical Trials The process of developing a medical treatment,

strategy, device, or medication begins in a laboratory. If the treatment seems favorable, then animal tests are used to see how the treatment affects living bodies and if the treatment causes any harm.

If the treatment works well for the animals, then the clinical trial is announced. Utilizing a small group of volunteers, the treatment is carefully evaluated through each phase of the trial. At the end of the clinical trial, it is determined if the treatment is improving the patient's health, is of no benefit to the patient's health status, or is harmful to the patient in any way.