The Placebo Effect: maybe the drugs don’t work as well as you thought!

There is increasing evidence available that the placebo effect (which is the tendency of any medication or treatment, even an inert or ineffective one, to exhibit results simply because the recipient believes that it will work) in the prescription of drugs is more important than the drugs themselves. This interesting article outlines some of the key issues.

“From 2002 to 2006, the number of drugs that were axed after Phase-II clinical trials (volunteer trials) increased by 20% because the drugs couldn’t beat the placebos they were compared against. More recently, in 2008, a new gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease failed against the placebo. Similarly, in March 2009, Eli Lilly withdrew a new drug for schizophrenia because the placebo effect was double that expected. Also in March 2009, Osiris Therapeutics’ new drug for Crohn’s disease was also withdrawn due to a high placebo effect. What is going on? ” - David R Hamilton PhD - October 2009

Read more at:

http://hayhouse.co.uk/newsletters/October_2009/David_Hamilton/Index.html

If you enjoyed this, you’ll like his book, How the Mind Can Heal the Body, also by David Hamilton