Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are the gold standard enforced by transnational regulations for testing medical interventions. While everyone acknowledges their methodological merits and limitations, a few have investigated their historical roots and provided an explanation for their implementation into the drug regulation. With regard to this, somewhat in contrast with the mainstream view, I will argue that pharmaceutical scandals were one of the main drivers of the evolution of the drug regulation. Albeit my focus is mostly historical, my claim can further foster the philosophical debate on the epistemology of RCTs. Indeed, if the regulators adopted them at first to prevent scandals, then one should evaluate trials also to the extent
