Posted by Viridis on September 27, 2003, at 17:17:28
In reply to Re: Anyone else troubled by these placebo findings » Larry Hoover, posted by Ilene on September 27, 2003, at 14:13:12
I don't dispute any of the above, but there's also another set of considerations. If a particular drug works very well for, say, 25% of people, but not at all or even negatively for the other 75%, its overall effectiveness rating may not look so great. If you add in at least some improvements in the placebo group (and, possibly, a lack of negative effects in the placebo group that the active drug may cause in some patients), you could wind up with a scenario in which the drug doesn't look any better than the placebo -- even if it's actually very good for 1 in 4 people.
Of course controlled studies are essential, but the fact is that any given med may only be appropriate for a certain proportion of sufferers of depression (or whatever). It's valuable to have these sorts of meds as options for people who don't respond to other ones, so the results have to be analyzed carefully with an eye for these sorts of things.
poster:Viridis
thread:262425
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030923/msgs/263784.html