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Supplement clinical trials
What is a clinical trial for supplements?
Clinical trials for supplements look into the efficacy of the products, finding out if they really work and are safe to use. This study type is called an intervention study. Clinical trials for supplements come in various forms, including randomized-controlled trials (RCT), single group studies, or crossover studies. They can also be conducted either fully virtual (decentralized), involve research sites, or follow a hybrid approach.
Clinical trials don’t have to be expensive to support your products' safety and efficacy. It all comes down to a robust study design. Through technology and automation, we’re setting new standards for clinical research. Mind-blowing budgets and costly study delays are a thing of the past. We can work with (almost) every budget!
Why you should consider clinical research
Differentiate your brand with a clinical trial
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and FTC (Federal Trade Commission) both require that brands support the health claims of their products with scientific evidence. Citruslabs can support your brand to create the necessary evidence through clinical trials. We support you in every step of the process to make your brand a success. Supplement trials benefit brands and consumers by granting insights into a product’s real-world performance. Brands can use the results of their supplement trials to market their products with science-backed claims, and consumers are able to trust brands more when their product research includes verified, published clinical trials.
A hands-off approach to your clinical trials
Why Citruslabs for your dietary supplement clinical trials?
Citruslabs turns clinical operations upside down. We help you run smarter and more simplified clinical trials without missing out on quality. How? We put technology where humans used to manage every aspect of the process! We support you from study design to trial execution to data analysis and completion. You can outsource the entire study to us and don’t need an in-house study team. We regularly involve biomarkers, such as blood samples, skin markers, stool samples, or digital markers from smart devices in our research to make your study and data more robust. With us, you can fully customize your clinical trial based on your budget and needs. Set your brand up for success and maximize your health claims through a clinical study.
Setting new standards for clinical trials
Clinical trials don’t have to be expensive, complex, or time-consuming. You discuss your goals with us and we plan and conduct the clinical trial on your behalf. Study start-up is always interactive and you can chat with your study team in your preferred communication channels.
Claims based on robust data
We collect data from many different sources, involving questionnaires, blood draws, skin grading, smart devices, stool samples, and more. We make sense of your study data, analyze it and create research-backed claims that drive business growth.
Measurable impact that sets you up for success
Every brand defines success differently. We make sure to understand your study goals. Regardless if you’re looking to increase website conversions, want an easier time negotiating with wholesalers, or create better marketing content, we set you up for success.
Why Citruslabs
A hands-off approach to your clinical trials
Citruslabs is a digital full-service CRO (contract research organization). As such, we turn clinical operations upside down and help you run smarter and more simplified clinical trials. From study design to study completion, we’ve got your back - regardless if you would like to work on the trial as well or outsource it completely to us.
We make conducting clinical trials for dietary supplements effortless
Transparent study start-up & trial execution
Starting a study with Citruslabs is easy and fast. We want to design exactly the study you are looking for and provide you with a seamless study start-up experience. We design your study, write the clinical protocol and other study material, and make sure you will receive IRB approval for your study, all within a pre-set timeframe. Meanwhile, you can monitor and track how your clinical trial becomes a reality.
Efficient participant recruitment
Clinical trial patient recruitment is our bread and butter! With millions of potential study candidates in our database, enrolling the right study participants is efficient and inexpensive with Citruslabs. We also prioritize participant experience, ensuring study retention and compliance. For us, recruitment starts with study design and ends with trial completion.
Frictionless data capturing & analysis
Our optimized data capturing is reliable and offers brands a unique dataset to show the efficacy and safety of their dietary supplements. We create reports that consumers understand and brands can use our reports to create their unique health claims for their website and packaging that drive business growth.
How we can help your clinical trial come to life
Citruslabs is your digital CRO partner
We know that conducting a clinical trial can be daunting - this is why we help you with every step of it:
Study design
Study materiel development
Data collection/analysis
Clinical Protocol creation
Patient Recruitment/Retention
Laboratory services
IRB process & Site selection
Protocol Adherence/Compliance
Clinical report & claim examples
Hear from brands we worked with
Semaine uses Citruslabs to substantiate their product claims
The Challenge
Semaine’s primary goal was to be taken more seriously by the medical community. Secondly, the brand wanted increased website conversions and wholesale listings of their products.
They were looking for a clinical trial partner to help them with substantiating product claims for their website and packaging, all while being on a budget. Apart from validated questionnaires, the studies also included a set of blood markers, as well as before and after pictures.
The Solution
Semaine chose Citruslabs for its simplified and budget-friendly approach to clinical trials. Just 6 months after project kick-off, Semaine was able to publish product claims for their PMS pain relief product. The study helped Semaine to be taken more seriously by the medical community and drove business growth through increased website and ad conversions. Additionally, the study helped Semaine to have an easier conversation with wholesalers, and helped the brand to get listed at Target and Anthropology. Semaine also conducted a second study with Citruslabs, for their Daily Supplement, in which Citruslabs also provided before and after photos.
Products used
Study design
IRB process
Patient recruitment
Patient adherence
Data collection
Data analysis
Product claims
FAQ about supplement trials
What are the different types of studies for dietary supplements?
There are many different study designs available for dietary supplement clinical trials. Typically, brands start with pilot studies, which are single group (one study arm) and don’t involve a placebo or a control group. Larger brands that already did in-house research also opt for a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) as their pilot study. Studies like these involve at least two study groups (one intervention group and one control or placebo group). The gold standard is a double-blinded randomized-controlled clinical trial, which involves three or more arms (intervention, placebo, and control arm) and neither the study participant, nor the study team knows which participant received the placebo and who received the actual supplement. Another possibility is a crossover study, which belongs to the RCT family, but only includes one study group that serve as their own control group. A crossover study gives you the advantages of an RCT, while staying on a budget. Lastly, consumer perception studies are also an option to consider for supplement brands. These students are less scientific than clinical trials, but still a good way to create robust product claims.
Do vitamins go through clinical trials?
Generally, vitamins can be found on the FDA GRAS list, which lists substances and chemicals that are Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS). Chemicals and substances on this list are considered safe by experts under the conditions of their intended use and typically underwent clinical studies that were looking at primarily safety. Vitamins or multivitamins sold as dietary supplements can typically be found on that list. However, dietary supplements don’t have to go through clinical trials before reaching shelves and being sold to consumers. However, some brands choose to go the extra mile and pursue clinical trials when launching new products. Brands use these studies to create science-backed product claims that drive trust as well as business growth.
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