Principle of Equipoise

Synonyms

Clinical equipoise; Equipoise

Definition

Clinical equipoise exists when all of the available evidence about a new intervention/treatment does not show that it is more beneficial than an alternative and, equally, does not show that it is less beneficial than the alternative. For example, to be able to conduct a clinical trial that involves administering an investigational treatment that may confer therapeutic benefit to subjects for whom such benefit is desirable to some individuals, and to administer a control intervention treatment that is not capable of conferring therapeutic benefit to others, there cannot be any evidence that suggests that the investigational intervention shows greater efficacy than the control treatment or that it leads to greater side effects than the control treatment.

When individuals agree to participate in a clinical study, they do so with the understanding that all of the treatments are assumed to be of equal value. By the end of the trial, there...