Here at Covance
Leeds we love to celebrate International Clinical Trials Day on the 20th
May every year. Did you know that there is a surprising link between the humble
lemon and the history of clinical trials?
Lemons are such a versatile citrus fruit and most of us love a refreshing glass
of lemonade or a rich slice of lemon drizzle cake now and again, but in fact
lemons were also central to the discovery of how to treat the condition Scurvy,
an illness which is the result of a lack of Vitamin C.
Doctor James Lind, a Royal Navy doctor performed the first clinical trial
aboard The HMS Salisbury on 20th of May 1747. By testing various treatments on
sailors who were suffering from Scurvy, he was able to discover that oranges
and lemons were effective in treating the condition.
Clinical Trials Day is a chance to highlight the importance of the work involved
in clinical trials by scientists and volunteers alike, in order to advance the
development of medicines.
This year we
decided to celebrate International Clinical Trials Day with a bake-off
competition here at our Covance Leeds facility, with delicious lemon and orange
baked goods competing to be judged the best. It certainly must be a hard job to
judge which cake is the tastiest! In honour of the bake-off, here is a link to
some of the loveliest lemon recipes we could find from BBC Good Food!
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/lemon
We are always looking for volunteers to participate in
our paid clinical trials and we have a range of studies currently available.
You can see the list of our upcoming clinical trials here: https://www.covanceclinicaltrials.com/en-gb/browse-studies.html