Clinical research

At the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM), clinical research expands current medical knowledge and understanding of the causes of diseases in order to better prevent, diagnose and treat them. 

The various projects carried out at the CRCHUM make it possible to evaluate and test new medical practices or new drugs, among others. 

Clinical research covers a very broad spectrum in the field of health research. It focuses on observation, clinical trials (drugs, surgical devices), epidemiological studies, genetic studies, and the biobanking of biological material or clinical data.  

Clinical research is generally divided into two categories: 

Non-interventional Studies 

Sometimes described as observational, this type of research does not involve any change in the standard medical management of patients. However, non-interventional studies can be used for instance to compare two medical practices or surgical techniques, or to follow a group of patients’ tolerance of a drug after it has been put on the market. 

Interventional Studies 

This type of research offers a type of care that is not yet available to the general public. Interventional studies provide evidence of the effectiveness and safety of a new drug, a new medical device, a cell or gene therapy or a new management protocol in a health care setting. 
 

In both cases, clinical research requires the contribution of participants, either people with a known medical condition or healthy volunteers, who agree to share their clinical data, to donate tissues (blood, saliva, etc.), to answer questionnaires or to test drugs that are still at an experimental stage to treat a medical condition.