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Science 21 April 2000:
Vol. 288. no. 5465, p. 416
DOI: 10.1126/science.288.5465.416a
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News of the Week

PSYCHIATRY:
Are Placebo-Controlled Drug Trials Ethical?

Martin Enserink

HOUSTON--Critics have argued that using placebos in clinical trials of psychiatric drugs makes patients suffer unnecessarily and may drive some to suicide, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has insisted that placebo-controlled trials are the only scientifically sound way to test drug efficacy. Now, the FDA has two large meta-analyses showing that being in a placebo group does not increase the risk of suicide. But at a meeting earlier this month where one of the studies was presented, critics lashed out again at placebo-controlled trials, calling them "unethical" and "immoral."

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)