Here is an intesting article from Wired on the placebo effect and the development of drugs. It seems that the placebo effect, improvements in medical conditions when a sham pill is given instead of the real drug, is getting larger. Long-established drugs are often found to have no benefit over placebo treatments. Doctors are only now starting to study the placebo effect and how it might be used for good, instead of treated like a nuisance in the testing process.
Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.
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.