preclinical

adjective pre·clin·i·cal \ (ˌ)prē-ˈkli-ni-kəl \

|Updated on: 5 Jul 2018

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

Recent Examples of preclinical from the Web

Each paper is based on preclinical research, and scientists said the findings were hardly a death knell for the nascent field of CRISPR.

— damian garde, STAT, "CRISPR scientists are in for the long haul. Wall Street is less patient," 11 June 2018
The money will go to adding staff and advancing drugs in preclinical programs to clinical trials.

— bradley j. fikes, sandiegouniontribune.com, "San Diego biotech startup Escient raises $40 million," 9 May 2018
Two other versions are in preclinical development by Poseida.

— bradley j. fikes, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Poseida raises $30.5 million for cancer cell therapy," 4 Apr. 2018
Of course, more often than not, products that seem exciting in preclinical work fail in subsequent rounds of testing.

— amanda schaffer, WIRED, "The Dying Scientist and His Rogue Vaccine Trial," 1 May 2018
In preclinical studies, the combination of epacadostat and immune checkpoint inhibitors was shown to be effective against cancer.

— raymond j. tesi, STAT, "Combination immunotherapy may have failed in the Incyte/Merck trial, but it’s here to stay," 23 Apr. 2018
While there are many unknowns, anecdotal and preclinical evidence for the efficacy of CBD continues to build.

— graham averill, Outside Online, "Why Athletes Are Ditching Ibuprofen for CBD," 20 Apr. 2018
To identify antigens that can be safely targeted in solid tumors, researchers conduct sophisticated preclinical studies, including cell cultures, animal tests, and computer analyses.

— marie mccullough, Philly.com, "Cracking the cancer code: Can immune therapy treat tumors?," 5 Apr. 2018
Mouse models of gene mutations with aspects in common between mice and humans can lead to new models of human disease, useful for drug screening, preclinical studies and better understanding of diseases and conditions, Jackson Lab said.

— stephen singer, courant.com, "Jackson Lab, Chinese University Settle Dispute Over Sale Of Mice," 4 Apr. 2018

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.

First Known Use of preclinical

1876

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

Medical Dictionary

preclinical

adjective pre·clin·i·cal \ (ˈ)prē-ˈklin-i-kəl \

medical Definition of preclinical

1 a : of, relating to, concerned with, or being the period preceding clinical manifestations

the preclinical stage of diabetes mellitus

b : 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)