The standard treatment, also known as the standard of care, is the medical treatment that is normally provided to people with a given condition.
[1] After the clinical trial, researchers compare the outcomes of the two groups to see if the experimental treatment is better than, as good as or not as beneficial as the standard treatment.
Such clinical trials are usually double-blind, but this is not always possible; many oncology trials, for example, are considered difficult or impossible to blind because of different regimens, different routes of administration, and different toxicities.
[3] They may also be used with the primary objective of comparing the efficacy and/or safety of the two treatments.
Whether the purpose of the trial is to show efficacy of the new treatment or to compare two treatments, the question of whether the trial would be capable of distinguishing effective from less effective or ineffective treatments is critical.