>> so the conclusion from that is that there is a concerted effort by drug companies to unscrupulously modified the outcomes of their studies > The author didn

>> so the conclusion from that is that there is a concerted effort by drug companies to unscrupulously modified the outcomes of their studies > The author didn't claim any such thing. Actually, the author did claim any such thing: > Active placebos are designed to mimic the side-effects of drugs under study. So for example, if a new drug is known (or thought by the drug company) to produce dry mouth, the drug company might use a placebo containing ingredients that produce dry-mouth. That way, of course, they can say things in their ads like "[drug name] has a low occurrence of side effects, such as dry mouth, which occurred about as often as they did with placebo." The author here is accusing drug companies of using active placebos to make the side effects seem less critical, when there's no evidence of that presented.