TY  - JOUR
T1  - THerapeutic innovations, diminishing returns, and control rate preservation
AU  - Kent DM, Trikalinos TA
Y1  - 2009/11/25
N1  - 10.1001/jama.2009.1679
JO  - JAMA
SP  - 2254
EP  - 2256
VL  - 302
IS  - 20
N2  - 
Acceptance of therapeutic innovations into practice requires demonstrating and quantifying a treatment effect, measured as the difference in outcome rates between experimental and control groups of a randomized trial. This mathematical dependency of the treatment effect on the control event rate (ie, the rate of events in the control group) creates a dilemma for medical innovation. Although decreasing control rates signal therapeutic progress, sustained innovation theoretically requires an inexhaustible control rate. For industries dependent on therapeutic innovations, reducing outcome rates becomes both a primary goal and an existential threat.

SN  - 0098-7484
M3  - doi: 10.1001/jama.2009.1679
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2009.1679
ER  -