Definition of preclinical
1 : of, relating to, or concerned with the period preceding clinical manifestations
2 : of, relating to, or being the period in medical or dental education preceding the clinical study of medicine or dentistry
3 : occurring prior to clinical testing a preclinical animal study of a new therapy
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Recent Examples of preclinical from the Web
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ClostraBio, a preclinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing therapies for patients with life-threatening allergies, won fourth place and $40,000.
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A handful of medical applications are moving out of the Electrosols lab and into preclinical trials, and the miracle-grow skin should be available within three years.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'preclinical'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
1876
First Known Use of preclinical
1876
Medical Dictionary
preclinical
playMedical Definition of preclinical
1a: of, relating to, concerned with, or being the period preceding clinical manifestations the preclinical stage of diabetes mellitusb: occurring prior to a clinical trial preclinical animal testing to assess a drug's safety
2: of, relating to, or being the period in medical or dental education preceding the clinical study of medicine or dentistry the preclinical years; specifically : of or relating to the early period of prescribed medical or dental study devoted to the basic sciences (as anatomy, physiology, and pathology) preclinical studies
3: of, relating to, or being a science basic to medicine research in the preclinical sciences
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