Received from planton, a pipeliner.

Genes Determine Whether Sugar Pills Work

Main Category: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Also Included In: Genetics; Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 04 Dec 2008 - 6:00 PST

It is a well-known fact in drug trials that individuals can respond just as well to placebos, sugar pills, as to the active drug. On the other hand, it is difficult to explain why only certain people get better from placebos. A team of researchers from Uppsala University and Gothenburg University have now found gene variants that can impact the placebo effect and a mechanism in the brain that characterizes those who respond to placebos.
The study, published in Journal of Neuroscience, examined 108 individuals suffering from social phobia using a brain camera (PET, positron emission tomography). The individuals were participating in a treatment study looking into how anxiety-moderating drugs affect brain activity. Just under one fourth of the subjects were given a placebo instead of a drug. This was a double-blind study, meaning that neither the subjects nor the research team know who was taking the drug or the sugar pill.

article: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/131827.php