EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE: OBVIOUS BENEFITS AND HIDDEN DRAWBACKS

Abstract

The article covers basic information on the comparative evaluation of drugs efficacy and safety from the standpoint of both clinical experience and evidence-based medicine. It is emphasized that despite all its advantages evidencebased medicine does not contradict the "opinion-based medicine". There have been presented the basic rules for conducting randomized clinical trials referred to as the most modern method of evidence collection. The main criteria of evidence are described. At the same time, it is emphasized that evidence-based medicine has its drawbacks. The main of them - is inability to transfer the results obtained in a clinical trial to the treatment of all patients with the disease in question. The principle of comparing results between clinical trial and real-world data (RWD / RWE) is described – the project RCT DUPLICATE. The author’s opinion on the main drawbacks in conducting and reporting clinical trials is presented. A number of ethical issues in clinical trials is evaluated. The author claims that the selection of optimal treatment strategy for a particular patient should rely on combination of evidence-based medicine, clinical experience, and historical data as well.