DEVELOPMENT OF CONTROLLED TRIALS IN PREVENTIVE AND THERAPEUTIC MEDICINE

The story of the development of controlled trials in the practice of preventive and therapeutic medicine, which I have chosen for the subject of this lecture, cannot compare in excitement, technical brilliance or originality with the majority of the subjects of the Darwin lectures over the last 30 years. Yet I hope it may prove to have some interest, as the development of the modern controlled trial has had a profound effect on the productivity of medical research. Indeed the most recent developments in clinical trials are already resulting in the avoidance of some tens of thousands of premature deaths each year and, as these methods are extended to more and more diseases, they could eventually save some hundreds of thousands a year. © 1991, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.