Respect for the disease or condition that the potential treatment is designed to work on is another essential factor.

When I talk about respect in this regard, I mean being aware of the likely effects and potential complications, including the way a person’s quality of life and lifestyle can be affected by a condition they’re living with.

And overall we should be respectful of the patient recruitment process itself. It can be easy to assume that everything that’s gone before has been badly thought out and was destined to fail from the outset. But when there are so many big brains that have thus far failed to come up with a universal solution, we simply have to accept that patient recruitment is quite difficult, so treating it with respect can only help us come up with better solutions in the future.

I’m off for a Christmas break now. Here’s wishing everyone a happy – and respect-filled – 2024!