Can the placebo be the cure?
Enserink, M.
Science 284(5412): 238-240
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 10232967 Document Number: 509033
Since its discovery in the 1950s, the miraculous placebo effect has complicated medical research. Administering a mere sugar pill or injecting water, for example, can mitigate symptoms or even cure a disease if patients believe they could be getting a real drug. On January 22, a promising new antidepressant drug called MK-869 was shelved by its developer, Merck, because, during the drug's trial, dummy pills performed almost as well on patients, wiping out the rationale for MK-869. A few scientists, such as Irving Kirsch of the University of Connecticut, Storrs, argue that many compounds, even those with good scientific support, may be little more than refined placebos themselves.