To Mitigate Placebo Response, Test, Train And Control Expectations

By Dr. Nathaniel Katz, Chief Science Officer, Analgesic Solutions

Everyone understands that, especially in pain trials, outcomes are based largely on patients’ subjective reports. What’s not widely understood is that some patients are better than others at accurately reporting their pain. We have demonstrated that 20% to 30% of subjects enrolled in analgesic trials are unable to report their pain accurately.

The placebo effect. It’s the curse of clinical trials across indications, but it’s a particularly thorny issue for pain researchers. In fact, along with the inability of many patients to accurately report symptoms, it may be the main challenge facing analgesic trials. Left unaddressed, these issues have contributed to the failure of many clinical trials. Learn how patient and staff training can help overcome this challenge.