Double Blind Trial

Key Stage 4

Meaning

A double blind trial is a clinical trial where the doctor and the patient don't know if they have been given a real potential medicine or a placebo.

About Double Blind Trials

Double blind trials are used to prevent bias from affecting the results of a clinical trial when either the doctor or the patient expect the potential medicine to work or not.

Many alternative medicines appear to work until they are tested with a double blind trial showing that they are just a placebo and not a real medicine.