Impure Politics and Pure Science: Efficacious Ebola Medications Are Only a Palliation and Not a Cure for Structural Disadvantage

Caplan and colleagues (2015) present a strong argument for using alternative trial designs for experimental treatments for Ebola virus disease (EVD). This argument is, of course, not new. There is a significant body of work in the philosophy of medicine that highlights the moral authority given to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and the fact that RCTs are often chosen not because these are needed but because people simply do not recognize that they can get evidence that is just as useful from other trial designs (Kerridge 2010).