Packing up! The countdown is on – 4 days to go to the launch of our annual Just Ask Your Doctor! public information campaign on International Clinical Trials Day. Watch for an event in your local hospital.
International Clinical Trials Day celebrates the anniversary of the first clinical trial conducted by James Lind in 1747 into the causes of scurvy. The trial took place on board the HMS Salisbury and consisted of just 12 men, grouped into pairs and given a variety of dietary supplements from cider to oranges and lemons.
The trial only lasted six days but, within that time, there was a noticeable improvement in the group eating the fruit, providing Lind with the evidence required of the link between citrus fruits and scurvy.