Proof of Feasibility: What a Pilot Study Is and Is Not

A few years later I was involved in a trial of thioridazine or placebo in young male patients with chronic schizophrenia who were also receiving psychotherapy from senior clinicians.1-3 The numbers were small, and we were testing different assessment techniques. Partly because of these worries, the ECDEU program was terminated. Because investigators continued to want to learn about each other's work, ECDEU morphed into NCDEU (New Clinical Drug Evaluation Units) in the1970s.