Individual drug sampling does not supplant the need for head-to-head trials in dermatology

A growing body of evidence has highlighted several risks and benefits associated with in-office sampling of prescription medications. While use-testing dermatologic medications from a sample closet may benefit some patients, it seems that the stunning lack of head-to-head trials comparing therapeutic options is a much larger and more important impediment to our determination of when the increased cost of newer agents is justified by superior efficacy, safety, or tolerability. If physicians are to retain the critical autonomy to make independent prescribing decisions in concert with our individual patients, we must take responsibility to call for and generate the comparative data we need to evaluate therapeutic options.