[bookofjoe]

FWIW, often a trial is halted before being completed if statistical analysis of the preliminary results definitively indicate a positive outcome, or unexpected negative/life-threatening side effects emerge at an unacceptably high incidence.

If the trial is halted prematurely because the drug is deemed effective, immediately all individuals who received placebo are given the real thing. If the trial is completed and it shows the drug is effective, all those who received placebo are given the real thing.

Know also that all participants are paid for participating.

[Temporary_31337]

So are they going to wait with their heart attack until trial is over? Maybe read the article first? This makes sense for long term medicine like diabetes drugs etc but this one is for heart attack

[LorenPechtel]

Suspect heart attack--you head to the hospital pronto. The trial involves injecting the drug immediately, then going to the hospital. The placebo arm gets exactly the same treatment everyone would get now--rush to the hospital. This drug is purely about trying to keep the heart alive long enough to reach the hospital. A hospital with a cath lab is a far better treatment than this drug--but you can't put that in your pocket.

[bookofjoe]

Yes. That is how clinical trials work. I have run many clinical trials. I read the article twice before I submitted it.

[epcoa]

I think the charitable interpretation of who you are replying to is that it would be silly to give this drug for an acute event to people that received control (a life-long standard anti-platelet) weeks after they had an MI event. You're not going to say, oh that guy that had a heart attack and PCI 4 weeks ago who is on DAPT, oh now we're going to give this drug, the horse has already left the barn so to speak and the intervention is no longer indicated. That's how I interpreted the point at least.