Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. It isn’t a holiday we celebrate in the UK, and I’ve never been all that sure what the significance of it is.

Some searching online has unearthed that its origin was as part of a yearly harvest festival, with the thanks in question relating to being thankful for the blessings one enjoyed such as food, shelter etc.

Within the clinical trials industry, I would suggest the people most deserving of our gratitude are the trial participants, who give of their time and physiology to help further the cause of medical research.

I’ve said it before and will continue to do so – without patients taking part in trials, there would be no clinical trials industry, no big pharma companies, and ultimately no approved treatments for the vast range of diseases and conditions we are prone to as humans.

So let’s give thanks to trial participants on Thanksgiving.