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Placebo Effect
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| During the clinical evaluation of drugs for various diseases, it has been
found that drugs known to be inactive still produce what appears to be a healing
response. This presents a complication in the design of clinical
drug trials since their purpose of is to determine the specific contribution of
an active drug to the healing process. To isolate the efficacy of the drug
alone, drug trials are usually designed to compare the test drug to that of a
physically identical, yet inert substance. Such inert substances are known
as placebos. In clinical drug trials, the response of the trial drug is often tested
against the inactive placebo. as the difference between The placebo effect
is the measurable or observable effect on a person or group that has been given
a placebo rather than an active substance. It is likely that much of the
response to homeopathic medicines is attributable to the placebo
effect.
Placebo Effect External Links
Other references
- Placebo: Theory Research and Mechanisms
edited by Leonard White, Bernard Tursky, and Gary Schwartz, Guilford Press,
New York, 1985
- Placebo Effects in Health and Disease: Index of New
Information with Authors, Subjects and References by Joseph Hartwick,
ABBE Publications, Washington DC, 1996
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