Equipoise
What is equipoise?
Equipoise refers to a state of genuine uncertainty in the investigator of a clinical trial regarding the therapeutic merits of each arm in the trial. As a requirement of clinical research ethics, if the investigator discovers that one treatment is superior, they are ethically obliged to offer that treatment. With equipoise, it is assumed that no intervention is better (for either the control or experimental group) when designing a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
Randomized control trials are the standard method for evaluating treatments, but they are difficult to recruit for because of the randomization factor. Recruiting challenges can result in trials being forced to stop due to lack of participation or cause trials to not start at all.
Why is equipoise important in clinical trials?
Equipoise enables a fair and ethical trial process by ensuring no trial participant is knowingly given an inferior treatment. When there is equipoise, all participants have the opportunity to benefit from their treatment.
Equipoise improves the quality of data collected in a trial since it allows for the creation of a study where one treatment is not favored over another. This allows for greater confidence in the accuracy and a lack of bias in the trial’s results.