The news results from a risky gambit by drugmaker AstraZeneca (nyse: AZN - news - people ) to test the new medicine, Cerovive, in a 1, 700-patient Phase III clinicaltrial before proof of human efficacy was available.
If the drug candidate is derived from an herbal medicine that is legally marketed and hasn't caused safety problems, it may be able to skip the early-stage safety trial and go right to midstage clinical trials, which measure efficacy and determine proper dosing.