The root of the deep and fast ongoing evolution of both structure and methodology of clinical research

Abstract

The growing scientific knowledge and technology development are leading to radical changes in biological and medical research. The prevalent lines of development deal with a pragmatic evolution of controlled clinical trials, a massive diffusion of observational research, which is progressively incorporated in clinical practice, new models and designs of clinical research, the systematic use of information technology to build up vast networks of medical centers producing huge amounts of shared data to be managed through the big data methodology, personalized as well as precision medicine, a reshaped physician-patient relationship based on a co-working principle. All this is leading to profound changes in public health governance, a renewal of clinical epidemiology and prevention, a modified structure of several specific sectors of medical care, hopefully guided by scientific evidences. A few aspects of such an evolving picture are discussed in this article.