preclinical
adjective
pre·clin·i·cal
(ˌ)prē-ˈkli-ni-kəl 
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
Examples of preclinical in a Sentence
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If the researchers are successful, they may be awarded an additional $4 million to finish their preclinical development and start the first phase of a human safety trial.
—
Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2026
The study is now in its clinical phase after years of preclinical work refining surgical techniques and hardware stability.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 7 May 2026
And while the company presented more data on that drug Tuesday, showing promising first-line and combination data on daraxonrasib, scientists also showed in another session intriguing preclinical data on a completely new compound that may represent what comes after the current lineup.
—Angus Chen, STAT, 21 Apr. 2026
The research team plans to conduct more preclinical studies before seeking regulatory approval to conduct human clinical trials.
—Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 9 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for preclinical
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Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2026
The study is now in its clinical phase after years of preclinical work refining surgical techniques and hardware stability.
—Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 7 May 2026
And while the company presented more data on that drug Tuesday, showing promising first-line and combination data on daraxonrasib, scientists also showed in another session intriguing preclinical data on a completely new compound that may represent what comes after the current lineup.
—Angus Chen, STAT, 21 Apr. 2026
The research team plans to conduct more preclinical studies before seeking regulatory approval to conduct human clinical trials.
—Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 9 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for preclinical
Cite this Entry
“Preclinical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/preclinical. Accessed 15 May. 2026.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
preclinical
adjective
pre·clin·i·cal
(ˈ)prē-ˈklin-i-kəl
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)
preclinical studies
3
: of, relating to, or being a science basic to medicine
research in the preclinical sciences
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