Listening to Prozac but hearing placebo

Question 1

Are the newer antidepressants more effective than the old ones and what is the advantage of the newer ones

Answer 1

they are not more effective and they have less side effects

Question 2

what company marketed a novel antidepressant with a different mode of action and what was it called

Answer 2

Merck

Emend

Question 3

What was Emend used for

Answer 3

prevention of nausea and vomiting due to chemo

Question 4

Why was Emend’s plug pulled on the antidepressant and why was it unfortunate

Answer 4

• No significant benefit for active drug over placebos

- had fewer side effects, 5% drop drop in stock,

Question 5

What was the only common factor between non antidepressants?

Answer 5

They all produce easily noticable side effects

Question 6

What was lacking in the Merck’s trial of emend

Answer 6

side effects

Question 7

Therapeutic benefits of antidepressants are _____ when compared to placebos but the difference in side effects is_________

Answer 7

relatively small

substantial

Question 8

waht percent of patients and doctors knew wether they were giving or getting placebo or non-placebo?
How did they guess right

Answer 8

Patient-80%
Doctor-87%
-At the beginning the patients are told side effects and if they have these side effects then they are getting the real thing.

Question 9

what are trials called without placebo groups

Answer 9

comparator trials

Question 10

What is the correlation between side effects and improvement when taking prozac

Answer 10

0.96

Question 11

what are active placebos

Answer 11

is a real drug that produces side effects but no therapeutic benefits for the condition being treated.

Question 12

what drug has many of the same side effects of antidepressants

Answer 12

atropine