Expectation vs. Reality: Is Part of a Drug's Power Thinking that it will Work?

Previous studies have shown that believing in the effectiveness of a new medication may be half of the reason it works for certain patients. Of course there are medical components to every medicine, but a recent study shows how expectation of the medicine working can also show whether it may increase health benefits. 

According to lead study author Ted Kaptchuk, he notes that when patients in the midst of a migraine attack took a dummy pill that was thought to be a widely used migraine drug, it reduced their pain roughly as much as when they took the real drug. However, scientists told them that the actual medication was a placebo.

Researchers watched what happened during seven successive migraine attacks in 66 subjects, making 496 attacks in all. They asked study participants to refrain from taking any medication for two hours after the onset of their first migraine. Then, each participant was given six envelopes containing a pill or placebo to help with the next six attacks.

When subjects took no pills, they showed a 15 percent increase in migraine pain after two hours. For those that took the placebo, participants reported 26 percent less pain. However, for those who take a Maxalt pill, they reported 40 percent less pain.

In conclusion, when subjects took Maxalt that was labeled as a placebo, there was statistically no difference shown than those who took the placebo labeled as Maxalt.

"There was no difference between the pharmacology of the drug in reducing pain and the placebo dressed up with a nice word," Kaptchuk said, via NPR. "Basically we show that words can actually double the effect of a drug. That's pretty impressive."

This study certainly raises the question of whether drug companies should take subjects' expectations into account when testing a new product.

This study is one of the latest in a series testing out placebos versus actual medication.

"Migraine is ideal," Kaptchuk said, via the news organization. "I can't think of another instance in which a real disease happens and then disappears, and then comes back."

More information regarding the study can be found via Science Translational Medicine.