Placebo

"Placebos are getting more effective. Drugmakers are desperate to know why." is an article written by Steve Silberman that appeared in the September issue of Wired magazine. In the article, Mr. Silberman explores the growing American trend of pharmaceutical companies facing more and more failures in FDA approvals, more and more halts in middle of test phases and trials, and the seeming decline in effectiveness of preexisting and dominant drugs due to placebos growing more effective, in some cases, as up-par with the actual drugs. As confusing as this might sound and one would immediately question whether it's the drugs losing its effectiveness due to tolerance and resistance in the general population, a research led by Dr. William Potter shows that it's the placebo effect, and this effect alone, that's increasingly becoming effective. Why? Nobody's sure, but economists, psychologists, and cultural-theorists surmise that the marketing practice of pharmaceutical companies and health-care products have become so successful at convincing consumers about their products that we have become [conditioned] to respond to drugs regardless of their potency or true effectiveness. ('Conditioned' bracketed for my own word of choice.)

Read the full article at the wired.com/medtech/drugs/.