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Interactions between Pharmacodynamic and Placebo Effects in Drug Evaluations in Man

Abstract

IN the course of the development of a method sufficiently sensitive to evaluate the effects of small doses of tranquillizers in man, evidence of interactions between pharmacodynamic and placebo effects of drugs was adduced. Since placebo action (that is, the response to the act of taking medication as distinguished from the pharmacodynamic action of the medicament) must be taken into account in analysing human reactions to drugs, we feel that our findings have implications of general interest as well as of practical importance in designing methods for observing and evaluating the effects of drugs in man.

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MODELL, W., GARRETT, M. Interactions between Pharmacodynamic and Placebo Effects in Drug Evaluations in Man. Nature 185, 538–539 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/185538a0

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