What’s it Like to be Part of a Clinical Trial?
I thought this video from MedPage Today was rather interesting…It’s about the experiences of a subject in a placebo-controlled clinical trial for a new obesity drug.
The subject also happens to be the staff member who wrote the accompanying article: contributing writer Joe Sussman.
Several points leaped out from the vid…
1. How powerful the placebo effect can be. He still has no idea whether he was given the active drug or the placebo, but – as he put it (in response to a question about how the experience will affect his writing on clinical trials):
“I now look very closely at the placebo response…and if I don’t see a very strong placebo effect, I would be somewhat more skeptical of the results of those trials…There should be a major placebo impact, if the trial was done with the outlook of improving the overall health of the person.”
2. How important the ongoing nutritional counseling, accountability and lifestyle changes were to his success. These things were just as important – if not more so – than the pills he took (assuming he was given the active drug, AND assuming it worked).
3. How big the improvements to his health were, even though he’s still, technically, obese. He feels better, sleeps better, and was able to reduce some of his diabetes medications.
The moral of the story? Losing excess weight is worthwhile, even if you don’t end up with the body of your dreams. In the end, your health and well-being are more important.
