Assessing whether new medicines work: the statistical revolution in medical research

Science Research Lecture Series - Discover what we're discovering. Of all the great medical advances of the twentieth century, one of the most significant was the development of ways to assess whether promising new medicines actually work. At the forefront of these advances was the advent of the randomised clinical trial, and the development of methodologies for interpreting and synthesising evidence from clinical trials research. Using case studies from areas such as cancer and heart disease, including current research being conducted at Macquarie University, Professor Ian Marschner discusses in this lecture how these methodologies have revolutionised medical research and the pivotal role that statistical science has played.