I'd argue these are the main points of his blog posts. Or at least the ones he emphasized. Active placebos are designed to mimic the side-effects of drugs unde

I'd argue these are the main points of his blog posts. Or at least the ones he emphasized. 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." and The current anarchy that prevails with regard to placebos calls into question the reliability not just of drug-company research but of virtually every placebo-controlled study ever done. Which is a hell of a thing to have to say, or even think about. In fact it's nauseating. Sounds to me like he's saying drug companies are manipulating the outcomes of studies and implying that any study containing a placebo shouldn't be trusted.