PLACEBOS

TESTING

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questions about Herbs

a thalidomide baby

 

Placebos

from New Scientist

Dr Science's view

Placebos have been shown to be effective for treating: anxiety, tension, melancholia, schizophrenia, pain of all sorts, headaches, cough, insomnia, seasickness, chronic bronchitis, the common cold, arthritis, peptic ulcer, hypertension, nausea, senile dementia, etc. side effects include: nausea, headache, dizziness, sleepiness, insomnia, fatigue, depression, numbness, hallucinations, itching, vomiting, tremor, tachycardia, diarrhea, pallor, rashes, hives, ataxia, and edema they are even occasionally addictive with tolerance, withdrawal and craving

 faith and healing

Drug Testing

photo by Ansel Adams

Clinical Trials

This site lists lots of trials
New Drug approvals
and other information about clinical research

Blind studies, double blind studies and triple blind studies are now routine to determine the efficacy of drugs. A double blind result can vary dramatically from a single blind study. Cultural differences also effect studies.

Originally formed because of adulteration of coffee the FDA requires testing of drugs to prove their efficacy and safety

The recent withdrawing of fen/phen from the market because of heart valve damage echoes the thalidomide tragedy of the early 60's which led to refinements in the drug approval process of clinical trials

• phase I trials are small (<100) and determine the safety of a drug
• phase II trials are also small (several hundred) and determine effective dosages
• phase III trials are large (thousands) and determine the efficacy of the drug
• phase IV trials are follow-up studies that can find problems such as that with fen/phen

Thalidomide seems to be helpful for many of the symptoms of AIDS for leprosy and cancers.And the FDA has recently approved its use.

in the future personalized drugs

an example of a drug study

The down side

Interesting Facts

• The FDA has so far approved 30 drugs for AIDS and AIDS-related conditions. Another 110 anti-HIV drugs are in various stages of development and clinical testing. But it might be a while, since it takes an average of 15 years and some $400 million to bring a drug from the laboratory to the pharmacy. SOURCE: Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
• There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffee. Of these, only 26 have been tested, and half caused cancer in rats. SOURCE: Dr. Bruce Ames, UC Berkeley, in Smithsonian Magazine 12/95

For Good Health, It Helps to Be Rich and Important from a study of British Civil Servants

many fatalities from legal drugs

drug interactions

some enter testing to get health care

• Paul Reisberg preisberg@wellesley.edu
• Chemistry Department
• Date Created: September 22, 1997
• Last Modified: October 10, 1998
• Expires: August 30, 1999