2. Investigations at the Scheduled End

A research study does not consist only of the time when volunteers are receiving treatment through a clinical trial. After the end of the clinical trial, the researchers start to analyze the data collected and write reports about their findings. These documents are necessary to be submitted to the responsible authorities such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the case of the US, the agency decides on the approval of treatments based on the data from clinical trials.

There are numerous stages and clinical trials during a study and in the case of a final stage, investigators may file a new drug application (NDA) document. Volunteers are likely to receive updates on the research, while at the end of the process the results are made public and published as presentations at medical conferences, or as scientific papers in medical journals. However, volunteers do not need to worry about being identified as the identity of participants in a study is always protected and monitored by the Institutional Review Board (IRB).