Placebo predictions
By Eric Jaffe
Clinical trials of antidepressants often start with what’s called a placebo lead-in phase. During this brief period, patients receive only inert pills so that their bodies will cleanse themselves of any drugs taken earlier. But placebo lead-in might also help clinicians predict how a patient will respond to actual medication, researchers now report.
Aimee M. Hunter and her colleagues from the University of California, Los Angeles studied 51 adults with major depression. All the patients took an inactive pill daily for a week without knowing it was a placebo. For the next 8 weeks, half the patients received one of two antidepressant medications, fluoxetine or venlafaxine, and the other half received more placebos. At the end of the period, Hunter’s team evaluated each patient’s depression with a standard clinical test. Some patients in each group had improved.