https://scienceofplacebo.org/ Newly published peer-reviewed studies of placebo and nocebo effects and responses. Thu, 03 Sep 2026 03:28:27 +0000 https://doi.org/10.1097/jcp.0000000000002250doi:10.1097/jcp.0000000000002250Targum SD et al. (2026). J Clin Psychopharmacol. Analyzed placebo-arm data from an adjunctive antidepressant trial and found a large early (week-1) placebo response that reduced detectable drug-placebo differences at week 4. https://doi.org/10.1002/msc.70244doi:10.1002/msc.70244Dutra MNP et al. (2026). Musculoskeletal Care. Reviewed 23 randomized sham-controlled trials (2412 participants) and found most invasive procedures for non-life-threatening musculoskeletal conditions were not superior to placebo/sham. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpt.70468doi:10.1002/cpt.70468Colin PJ et al. (2026). Clin Pharmacol Ther. Quantified placebo response contributed substantially and variably to longitudinal HbA1c trajectories in pediatric T2DM across seven trials and showed model-informed designs could reduce required sample sizes. https://doi.org/10.1113/ep093418doi:10.1113/ep093418Zamfira DA et al. (2026). Exp Physiol. Reviews evidence linking placebo analgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia to predictive-processing mechanisms across neuroimaging, pharmacology, and physiological studies, and discussed translational implications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-026-02516-wdoi:10.1038/s41386-026-02516-wBrehm BL et al. (2026). Neuropsychopharmacology. Randomized human study tested open-label placebo vs control on emotional distress during image viewing and manipulated dlPFC activity with tDCS; found OLP reduced distress and tDCS reduced distress in controls but did not augment the OLP effect. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2026.10665doi:10.1192/bjp.2026.10665Ahmadzad-Asl M et al. (2026). Br J Psychiatry. Meta-analysis of 80 RCTs of citalopram/escitalopram across major psychiatric disorders found a large and heterogenous placebo response (Cohen's d 1.01) influenced by study and demographic factors. https://doi.org/10.1177/02601060261479414doi:10.1177/02601060261479414de Salles Painelli V et al. (2026). Nutr Health. Randomized double-blind crossover with control, placebo, and capsaicin found no effect of acute capsaicin or placebo/expectancy on countermovement jump height or strength-endurance in resistance-trained men. https://doi.org/10.1097/ajn.0000000000000370adoi:10.1097/ajn.0000000000000370aRosenberg K (2026). Am J Nurs. Found similar outcomes for wrist splinting and a placebo soft bandage in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. https://doi.org/10.1080/14712598.2026.2718370doi:10.1080/14712598.2026.2718370Al Meslamani AZ et al. (2026). Expert Opin Biol Ther. Structured narrative review of repeated and cross-switching to biosimilars reviewed efficacy, safety, immunogenicity, persistence, and nocebo mechanisms, finding nascent but generally promising data and emphasizing communication, pharmacovigilance, and device factors. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40290-026-00631-zdoi:10.1007/s40290-026-00631-zLégaré S et al. (2026). Pharmaceut Med. Meta-analysis estimated pooled placebo response rates (CLASI‑A50) in RCT placebo arms for cutaneous lupus and explored clinical and design predictors of higher placebo responses. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000004087doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000004087Kamper-Fuhrmann E et al. (2026). Pain. Found that verbal suggestion with an inert 'magical' cream increased heat pain tolerance in 3–6-year-old children versus control cream and natural history, with no effect on self-reported pain. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40122-026-00879-ydoi:10.1007/s40122-026-00879-yReginster JY et al. (2026). Pain Ther. Pooled post-hoc analysis of two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled celecoxib trials in knee OA found celecoxib reduced VAS pain versus placebo across sex and BMI subgroups and that women and obese participants showed larger placebo responses. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613261472929doi:10.1177/13623613261472929Ichijo E et al. (2026). Autism. Conducted a placebo hypoalgesia study in 96 adults manipulating expectations about electric-shock pain and found alexithymia and trait anxiety reliably predicted placebo magnitude, whereas autism had a weak, unreliable effect. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2026.08.018doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2026.08.018Plöderl M et al. (2026). J Psychiatr Res. Conducted a secondary meta-regression of pediatric fluoxetine trials and found no robust associations of number of sites, age, baseline severity, or added psychological interventions with drug efficacy or placebo response; site effect was driven by an outlier. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-026-06821-2doi:10.1007/s00192-026-06821-2Zulfikaroglu E & Zulfikaroglu B (2026). Int Urogynecol J. Systematically reviewed fractional CO2 vaginal laser trials and meta-analyzed randomized CO2-only trials, finding short-term sexual function improvements that were smaller in sham-controlled trials and noting inconsistent reporting of vaginal, urinary, and safety outcomes. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocarto.2026.100861doi:10.1016/j.ocarto.2026.100861Holtedahl R et al. (2026). Osteoarthr Cartil Open. Quantified placebo-arm pre-to-post changes in pain across 179 RCTs of non-surgical knee osteoarthritis treatments and found frequent moderate–large placebo responses with high heterogeneity. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjno-2026-001649doi:10.1136/bmjno-2026-001649Dwivedi AK et al. (2026). BMJ Neurol Open. Simulated and compared CDR-SB trajectories from double-blind and open-label phases of lecanemab and donanemab trials and found OLE decline rates approximated placebo-level declines, with early-start cohorts showing larger OLE vs DB differences. https://doi.org/10.1111/idh.70146doi:10.1111/idh.70146Kos M et al. (2026). Int J Dent Hyg. Randomized trial of 50 adults compared active photoactivated whitening versus a placebo peppermint gel and found greater short-term spectrophotometric colour change with active treatment but psychosocial satisfaction increased in both groups, with mixed long-term differences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2026.106406doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2026.106406Ng SKR et al. (2026). J Pain. Conducted two preregistered randomized experiments in healthy adults and found that cognitive self-object connectedness with a possessed placebo cream increased cold-pressor pain threshold and tolerance relative to controls. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpain.2026.1874475doi:10.3389/fpain.2026.1874475Tu QY et al. (2026). Front Pain Res (Lausanne). Network meta-analysis of six RCTs in adults with tension-type headache found no difference between sham needling at same versus different points, and both sham and acupuncture improved pain versus waiting-list, with acupuncture showing higher responder rates than shams. https://doi.org/10.1136/jmg-2026-111529doi:10.1136/jmg-2026-111529Saxena A et al. (2026). J Med Genet. Found high proportions of neuropsychological responders in both everolimus (87%) and placebo (75%) arms, with small-to-medium effect sizes and likely practice/placebo effects influencing outcomes. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1906680doi:10.3389/fmicb.2026.1906680Chen J et al. (2026). Front Microbiol. Found within-subject improvements in sexual-function and quality-of-life scores at one month after washed microbiota transplantation in this uncontrolled cohort, but lacked a control so causality was not established. https://doi.org/10.1093/jsxmed/qdag263doi:10.1093/jsxmed/qdag263Baldini S et al. (2026). J Sex Med. Found that placebo intralesional injections in Peyronie's disease were associated with an average penile curvature improvement of approximately 5° across included trials. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2026.07.113doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2026.07.113Zhang M et al. (2026). J Am Acad Dermatol. Meta-analyzed placebo responses in trials of topical versus systemic treatments for androgenetic alopecia and reported greater placebo effects for topical therapies.