Why drugs are not as effective - or safe - as the pharmaceutical industry are telling us

Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine October 18, 2010 vol. 153 no. 8 532-535

What's in Placebos: Who Knows? Analysis of Randomized, Controlled Trials
Beatrice A. Golomb, MD, PhD; Laura C. Erickson, BS; Sabrina Koperski, BS; Deanna Sack, BS; Murray Enkin, MD; and Jeremy Howick, PhD
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, San Diego, California

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.annals.org/content/153/8/532.abstract

How do you know a drug is safe and effective? Because it’s tested against a placebo, or sugar pill, and you know it works if it significantly outperforms the dummy pill. But suppose the sugar pill isn’t as benign as we think – suppose it contains a chemical that makes even a bad drug such as a statin look good?

This study looks at the placebo, a method used in countless drug trials over the years. The researchers studied four of the major medical journals published in 2008 and 2009 – and discovered that hardly any trials listed the ingredients of the placebo.

As the composition of the placebo can have a big effect on a drug trial’s results, the researchers concluded its ingredients should be listed every time.

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