1. A therapeutic approach or treatment method that serves as a standard or model for comparison with other therapeutic interventions; a benchmark therapy used in clinical research or practice
The study compared the new treatment against reference therapy to determine its effectiveness.
O estudo comparou o novo tratamento com a terapia de referência para determinar sua eficácia.
2. In clinical trials, the established or standard treatment used as a baseline for evaluating experimental therapies
Patients in the control group received the reference therapy while others tested the new drug.
Os pacientes no grupo de controle receberam a terapia de referência enquanto outros testavam o novo medicamento.