Method Of Administration In Trials May Affect How Well Placebo “Works.”

Wonkblog” that a new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that how a placebo drug is administered in a study can affect how well the placebo “works.” The researchers “reviewed more than 100 clinical trials for knee osteoarthritis, focusing not on the drugs, treatments and injections that were the original point of the studies, but on the patients that got a fake treatment for their pain.” They found “that a sham injection with saline solution was not only better than a fake pill; it was also 1.6 times better at relieving pain than an actual drug – Tylenol.” The researchers conclude that this variance needs to be taken into account in future randomized trials. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/27/not-all-fake-medicines-are-created-equal/