User:Shawndouglas/sandbox/sublevel1

Medical research laboratories provide a regulated environment for the testing of the safety and efficacy of a variety of medical treatments and diagnostic devices, including medications, implants, and physician test kits. These facilities form the backbone of today's effective medical treatments, from cholesterol-lowering medications to pacemakers for the heart. In the U.S., these types of labs are overseen by the FDA. Medical research labs provide many different analytical and consulting services, including (but not limited to):

• clinical studies
• bioequivalence studies
• study design and management
• high-volume specimen testing
• custom assay development
• test kit development and supply

Medical research can happen in the private, government, and academic sectors. Private medical research labs are most often referred to as "central laboratories," which are contracted by pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers. Though mentioned occasionally in its regulation and guidance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn't seem to provide a definition of the term "central laboratory." However, it gets used by some in the context of an analytical laboratory that provides analyses of biological specimens associated with clinical and bioequivalence studies (including multi-site studies, prompting the idea of a "central" lab handling sample analysis) performed at medical institutions. These central labs may also be contracted out to provide "courier services for delivering lab kits and biosamples from/to medical institutions where diagnostics and treatment of patients is performed." Analytical testing and other services at a central or contract lab include anatomic pathology, digital pathology, immunology, microbiology, flow cytometry, biomarker testing, pharmacokinetic testing, genomic testing, and specimen and biorepository management.