Spellbinding piece in Wired: "Placebos Are
Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate
to Know Why."
In one of the Star Trek novels, Spock tells a
skeptical Bones that the medical system on the
planet Vulcan is based on the placebo effect.
Looks as though we could be moving in that
direction, if the drug companies can figure out
how to make a profit off it.
Excerpt:
"...Two comprehensive analyses of antidepressant
trials have uncovered a dramatic increase in placebo
response since the 1980s. One estimated that the so-
called effect size (a measure of statistical
significance) in placebo groups had nearly doubled
over that time.
"It's not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug
developers say. It's as if the placebo effect is
somehow getting stronger.
"The fact that an increasing number of medications
are unable to beat sugar pills has thrown the
industry into crisis. The stakes could hardly be
higher. In today's economy, the fate of a long-
established company can hang on the outcome of a
handful of tests.
"Why are inert pills suddenly overwhelming promising
new drugs and established medicines alike? The
reasons are only just beginning to be understood. A
network of independent researchers is doggedly
uncovering the inner workings--and potential
therapeutic applications--of the placebo effect. At
the same time, drugmakers are realizing they need to
fully understand the mechanisms behind it so they
can design trials that differentiate more clearly
between the beneficial effects of their products and
the body's innate ability to heal itself....After
decades in the jungles of fringe science, the
placebo effect has become the elephant in the
boardroom...."
http://tinyurl.com/mwlxfp 
