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What can happen if all the relevant, reliable evidence is not assessed?

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Fair tests of treatments involve reviewing systematically all the relevant, reliable evidence, to see what is already known, whether from animal or other laboratory research, from the  healthy volunteers on whom new treatments are sometimes tested, or from previous research involving patients.  If this step is overlooked, or done badly, the consequences can be serious – patients in general, as well as participants in research, may suffer and sometimes die unnecessarily, and precious resources both for healthcare and for research will be squandered.

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