Innovative Therapies, Suspended Trials, and the Economics of Clinical Research

Abstract

Most approaches to the philosophy of the natural and social sciences are based on completed scientific investigations. However, there are many important cases in science in which testing is incomplete. These cases are termed suspended trials and are particularly significant in biomedical and allied health fields. Initially, the authors’ interest in suspended trials was piqued by a controversial method for assisting autistic children known as facilitated communication. This article examines facilitated communication and other examples of suspended trials from the perspective of an economics of science and game theory. The model is consistent with recent evolutionary approaches to the philosophy of the natural and social sciences and with recent contributions to an economic understanding of science.