The Inability For Placebo to Change Alzheimer’s Remains
Yes, as the quoted text relates, analgesics (for pain reduction, as in migraine) and similar drugs are open to the placebo effect. No question about that.
The fact remains, however, there are no demonstrated or recorded cases of any “drug” (sham pill) ever causing the strong, persisting cognition stabilization or improvements that Anavex 2-73 did in the Australian trial. There is no conceivable mechanism by which the placebo effect, patient expectation (that’s the key factor), could possibly remove beta-amyloid plaques or tau tangles recognizably causing Alzheimer’s symptoms. The unique mechanisms of action of Anavex 2-73 could do this, however.
When will some drug be reported that it heals new broken bones after a 5-day course of treatment? Impossible. With broken bones, there can be no authentic placebo effect, where patient expectation “causes” the severed bones to quickly and spontaneously re-connect. Physically and chemically impossible.
The same is true with Alzheimer’s. No placebo-induced functioning of brain circuits (thinking) can possibly cause the disappearance Alzheimer’s toxins, the chemicals that actually induce all of the disease’s symptoms.
Were there existing, recognized cases of placebo effect outcomes in Alzheimer’s, the question would remain. But, for clearly obviating physiochemical reasons, mental expectations simply cannot suppress the lethal progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
One can’t wilfully believe away broken bones, hardened arteries, dental caries, urinary tract infections, cataracts, hernias, kidney stones, varicose veins, or a host of other humans diseases and conditions. Same with Alzheimer’s and Rett.
It is important to understand the placebo effect, and how it can distort or misrepresent clinical results. But it is a factor only in the conditions and diseases where it can operate. It simply can’t (and hasn’t) in Alzheimer’s or Rett.
The placebo effect is by no means operable in every human health condition.
