Posted by benji on May 7, 2002, at 16:32:13
From Washington Post:
After thousands of studies, hundreds of millions of prescriptions and tens of billions of dollars in sales, two things are certain about pills that treat depression: Antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft work. And so do sugar pills. A new analysis has found that in the majority of trials conducted by drug companies in recent decades, sugar pills have done as well as -- or better than -- antidepressants. Companies have had to conduct numerous trials to get two that show a positive result, which is the Food and Drug Administration's minimum for approval. What's more, the sugar pills, or placebos, cause profound changes in the same areas of the brain affected by the medicines, according to research published last week. One researcher has ruefully concluded that a higher percentage of depressed patients get better on placebos today than 20 years ago.
Full article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42930-2002May6.html
poster:benji
thread:105463
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020503/msgs/105463.html