Experts Decry Randomized Ebola Treatment Trials As Unethical, Impractical

New submitter Strangely Familiar writes "A letter in the Lancet calls for alternatives to randomized trials for Ebola treatments: "Leading health experts today urge the deployment of alternative trial designs to fast-track the evaluation of new Ebola treatments. In a letter to The Lancet, 17 senior health professionals and medical ethicists, from Africa, Europe, and USA, argue that although randomised controlled trials (RCTs) provide robust evidence in most circumstances, the lack of effective treatment options for Ebola, high mortality with the current standard of care, and the paucity of effective health care systems in the affected regions means that alternative trial designs need to be considered."

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So, of course, it goes without saying

[93 Escort Wagon]

The signatories to that letter in Lancet are willing to shoulder any monetary and/or criminal penalties that, in the future, come about because doctors and pharmaceutical makers haven't followed eatablished best practices in pursuit of effective Ebola treatments.