Standard of care (SOC)

Treatment that is accepted by medical experts as the most appropriate for a certain type of disease in a particular setting and is widely used by healthcare professionals. Also called best practice, standard medical care, best available therapy and standard therapy.

When new treatments are being evaluated in clinical trials, they will generally be compared with standard of care or as an addition to standard of care.

Standard of care (National Cancer Institute, 2020)

Guideline on the evaluation of medicinal products indicated for treatment of bacterial infections, Rev. 3 (EMA, 2018)