placebo
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U.S. FDA Approves New Alzheimer’s Drug, but There Are Lingering Questions
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted the conditional approval of a new treatment for people with early Alzheimer’s disease: the antibody-based drug lecanemab, jointly developed by the pharmaceutical companies Biogen and Eisai. In a large trial, lecanemab appeared to slow down patients’ cognitive decline relative to those on placebo. But some experts and…
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Pfizer’s Experimental COVID-19 Pill Found Highly Effective at Preventing Hospitalisation and Death
The dawn of treatments that can effectively prevent severe COVID-19 may truly be here. On Friday, pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced the results of its clinical trial testing out a combination oral antiviral therapy. The study found that the two-drug combo reduced the chances of hospitalisation and death among outpatients at risk of severe illness by…
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Microdosing Benefits Might Be Largely Placebo, Experimental Study Suggests
The sometimes hyped benefits of microdosing — regularly using small amounts of psychedelic drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) — might be overstated, new research this week suggests. The study found that people who microdosed did experience psychological benefits, including greater sense of well-being, but that these benefits weren’t substantially different from how others felt…
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You Can Train Your Body Into Thinking It’s Had Medicine
Can we harness the mind to reduce side-effects and slash drug costs?