A placebo-controlled clinical trials compares outcomes for an intervention versus no intervention. An active-controlled clinical trials compares outcomes of one intervention versus a second, usually a standard therapy for a condition. The choice of the control to use depends on a number of practical and ethical factors.
Reasons to do a placebo control:
(1) no generally accepted or effective therapy
(2) failure to treat a patient with an effective agent does not pose a risk for the patient
Sometimes a short-term clinical trial can be conducted with a placebo control if it will provide important information and not result in harm to the control group.
Reasons to do an active control:
(1) there is an accepted therapy AND failure to treat with an effective drug may cause real harm the control group
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