Most Clinical Trials Are Scientifically Invalid

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The scientific validity of every randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled drug study that has ever been conducted is about to be called into question.

That’s a bold statement, I know, but not if you look at the results of a new study, published in the journal, Science Translational Medicine. According to the findings of the study, many pharmaceuticals only work because people expect them to, not because they have any ‘real’ chemical effect on the body.

Worthless medicine

During the study, researchers from Oxford, Cambridge, Hamburg and Munchen Universities, applied heat to the legs of 22 patients, who were asked to report their level of pain on a scale of one to 100. They were also attached to an intravenous drip so drugs could be administered secretly.

The initial average pain rating was 66. Patients were then given a potent painkiller, remifentanil, without their knowledge and the pain score went down to 55.

They were then told they were being given a painkiller and the score went down to 39.

Then, without changing the dose, the patients were then told the painkiller had been withdrawn and to expect pain, and the score went up to 64.

In a nutshell: The mind of the patient is what actually determines the ‘effectiveness’ of the pain drug, not the chemical effect of the drug itself.

This effect has been proven before with not just painkiller drugs, but also with antidepressant drugs which have consistently failed to out-perform placebo.

A 2008 study sent shockwaves through the medical community when it revealed that taking new-generation antidepressants, like Prozac, is no more effective than taking a sugar pill!

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Great expectations

Commenting on the results of the most recent study, Prof. George Lewith at the University of Southampton said that these findings call into question the scientific validity of many randomized clinical trials. He added, "It completely blows cold randomized clinical trials, which don't take into account expectation."

And that is the crux! Expectation... and it all starts when participants are recruited for a drug trial.

Participants, after all, are recruited for a "cancer drug trial" or a "blood pressure drug trial"... so from the outset, the expected outcome of the trial is made clear... and is imprinted in the minds of the participants.

When the trial begins, the participants are told that half will be given the drug, and the other half will be given a placebo. Since it’s a double-blind study, no one knows whether they're receiving the drug or the placebo.

After a while, some of the participants begin to show toxic side effects (because most pharmaceuticals are toxic to the body). These participants become excited and make the conclusion that they’re getting the ‘real’ drugs!

It all starts to add up. The participants know that they are getting the real drug and they know what the outcome of the study must be. On a physiological level, they start to ‘create’ the outcome of the trial that was imprinted in their minds at the beginning of the trial!

The same thing happens with the placebo group... the placebo pills have no side effects, participants realise they are not getting the ‘real’ drugs and therefore they experience no positive physiological effects...

Once the trial is over, the researchers compare the results... Et voila! The drug outperforms the placebo!

Wish list: Design a truly scientific clinical trial

If this is true, we can make two more observations:

1. Most (if not all) clinical trials are scientifically invalid

2. The power of the mind is not just ‘new age psycho babble’ any more, but has been proven scientifically (illustrated by the two studies mentioned above) to be a variable in the outcome of medical trials.

So, in order to design a truly scientific clinical trial, participants must be recruited without knowing what drug will be tested or what the outcome of the study must be... of course, no clinical trials are ever conducted in this way.

Some may argue that this is the biggest flaw of medical science. Big Pharma’s science is not scientific. However, they have played this shortcoming very well to their own advantage because they have managed to sell billions of unproven prescription drugs to the masses... making fools and victims of hundreds of millions of consumers.

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

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Big Pharma... Or Should That Be Big Bully?

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Sources:

‘Initial Severity and Antidepressant Benefits: A Meta- Analysis of Data Submitted to the Food and Drug Administration’ published online 25.02.2008, plosmedicine.org/article

‘Psych Drug Shocker: Antidepressant Drugs Work No Better than Placebo; Big Pharma Hoax Finally Exposed’ published online 25.02.2008, naturalnews.com

‘Negative experiences can stop painkillers working’ published online 16.02.11, bbc.co.uk

‘Nearly all drug trials scientifically invalid due to influence of the mind; Big Pharma science dissolves into wishful thinking’ published online 22.02.11, naturalnews.com