Placebo treatment is effective differently in different diseases--but is it also harmless? A brief synopsis.

Unlabelled: The placebo drug reactions from controlled trials were studied for the first time systematically for efficacy and the safety in drug data pooled from randomized, placebo-controlled, multicentre studies.

Results: The efficacy of placebo on clinical symptoms and outcome varied between the therapeutic indications. However, no placebo effects on laboratory values, as e.

[Pharmacogenetics--implications for health management and health care economics].

Pharmacogenetics, which is principally concerned with drug efficacy and safety, will change the way future health care is practiced. The growing understanding of the genetic basis for drug response and use of this knowledge to predict the response of an individual patient offer new opportunities to meet the changing needs of health care systems and the demands placed upon them. For the individual patient, overall quality of life should be higher as physicians will be able to select the most effective and safest treatments for them.