Placebo is now available over the counter

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The New York Times reports the exciting news:

With the help of her husband, Dennis, [Jennifer Buettner] founded a placebo company, and, without a hint of irony, named it Efficacy Brands. Its chewable, cherry-flavored dextrose tablets, Obecalp, for placebo spelled backward, goes on sale on June 1 at the Efficacy Brands Web site. Bottles of 50 tablets will sell for $5.95. The Buettners have plans for a liquid version, too. — Experts Question Placebo Pill for Children

Several questions occur to me:

  • Why didn’t I think of that? Well, I did. I just didn’t think anyone would buy it, which argues convincingly that I don’t really understand the placebo effect after all.
  • Would the same people who buy Obecalp pay more for Extra-Strength Obecalp? Timed-release? ObecalpPM? and would the Extra-strength version work better?
  • What’s up with the headline, “Experts Question Placebo Pill?” Do the experts also misunderstand how this all worked? Or are they trying to undermine it by expressing doubt through some kind of anti-placebo campaign?
  • When experts began to tell everyone that smoking causes lung cancer, did the incidence of lung cancer increase?
  • Who will file the first lawsuit over Obecalp?

A related article, Placebo is not what you think, has good links to some serious studies and articles, and includes this fact:

Placebos are not a ‘non-specific’ treatment. A study on people who take the dopamine-boosting drug L-DOPA for Parkinson’s disease but who took a placebo L-DOPA pill, showed almost identical brain changes, as if they’d taken the real thing.

3 thoughts on “Placebo is now available over the counter”

  1. Pingback: If I meant this, I wouldn’t say it. « It’s funnier that way.

  2. Pingback: Placebos finally available over the counter at What’s All This Brouhaha?

  3. We agree that the responsible use of placebos can work wonders, and not only for children.

    We are four friends who have been following the debate for a while and decided to do something about it by making placebos available to the public.

    On our Universal Placebos website there articles and testimonials about what happens even if you know you are taking a placebo . . . so there are no ethical dilemmas about tricking children into believing they are having ‘real’ medicine

    If you are curious you can check it out on http://www.placebo.com.au

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