This phase is also known as post-marketing surveillance: it concerns the monitoring of authorized drugs after they have been placed on the market.   Phase IV studies are conducted to gather additional information on the long-term safety and efficacy of the…

Phase II studies can only begin once all Phase I studies have been completed. Phase II studies are so-called exploratory therapeutic studies that test the drug candidate in patients, i.e. participants suffering from the disease for which the drug is…

Before Phase I studies can begin, the drug candidate has been thoroughly and extensively tested in the laboratory and in animals in so-called non-clinical studies.  Phase I studies test the drug on humans for the first time; therefore, this phase…

In the preclinical phase, preclinical or non-clinical studies take place. They study the chemical and pharmaceutical properties of promising molecules (drug candidates) and their possible toxic and carcinogenic properties. This is done at first in vitro, in test tubes or…