Ann: Mesoblast Phase 3 CLBP Trial Completes Enrollment, page-147

Ah … yes nice point.

There is a little bit of chicken and egg when a 3 arm trial is created; comprising two intervention arms and placebo. Whether the context is driving the design or the scientific question.

But from the perspective of the participant they will skip the nuance about the difference between the two investigation arms and go straight to bit where they read 2 chances in 3 of receiving the active - rexlemestrocel-L. Eg … from the PIS from one of the centres participating in the study

“Two of the groups will receive the investigational product (rexlemestrocel-L, either alone or with hyaluronic acid) and one group will receive placebo (saline). A placebo (saline) looks like the study drug, but does not contain any active ingredient(s).

You have an equal chance of being assigned to any one of the three groups.

You have a 2 out of 3 chance of being assigned to one of the two groups that will receive the investigational product, rexlemestrocel-L.

You have a 1 out of 3 chance of being randomly assigned to the placebo (saline alone) group. “

http://proslc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/URRENT-consent-mesoblast-study.5.4.16.pdf

But it’s a good pick up you made … I’ll leave my post there (not moderate it) as everyone can read your good counter point. And at the least people might welcome a temporary distraction from the usual finance discussion on this forum.