Placebo News and Research

RSS

Deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant severe depression shows positive results

Deep brain stimulation – implants in the brain that act as a kind of 'pacemaker' – has led to clinical improvements in half of the participants with treatment-resistant severe depression in an 'open label' trial.

18 Nov 2025

New therapy restores vision after stroke induced blindness

Each year, thousands of stroke survivors are left with hemianopia, a condition that causes loss of half of their visual field (the "vertical midline"). Hemianopia severely affects daily activities such as reading, driving, or just walking through a crowded space.

17 Nov 2025

Low-intensity noise therapy shows how tuning sound to the brain can ease tinnitus

LINTS, a non-masking low-intensity noise tuned to each patient’s tinnitus frequency, produced statistically significant but modest reductions in tinnitus burden in a phase II clinical trial. Improvements were confined to the treatment-only group, with high individual variability and strong dependence on precise acoustic fitting.

16 Nov 2025

Testing nicotinamide riboside as a potential aid for long COVID recovery

Chao-Yi Wu, PhD, OT, from the Department of Neurology and Edmarie Guzmán-Vélez, PhD, of the Department of Psychiatry at Mass General Brigham, are the lead and senior authors of a paper published in eClinicalMedicine, "Effects of Nicotinamide Riboside on NAD+ Levels, Cognition, and Symptom Recovery in Long-COVID: A Randomized Controlled Trial."

14 Nov 2025

Self-hypnosis cuts menopausal hot flashes by half

Self-administered hypnosis effectively alleviates hot flashes in menopausal women, enhancing quality of life and providing an alternative to hormone therapy.

14 Nov 2025

Common gout drug shows promise in preventing heart attacks and strokes

A widely-used, inexpensive gout drug could reduce heart attacks and strokes in people with cardiovascular disease, according to a new Cochrane review.

12 Nov 2025

Evolocumab shows clear benefit in preventing first-time heart attacks and strokes

Adding the PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab to standard lipid-lowering therapy significantly reduced first major cardiovascular events in adults with atherosclerosis or high-risk diabetes who had never had a heart attack or stroke. The 4.6-year study confirmed durable safety and benefit, supporting earlier, more intensive LDL cholesterol control.

11 Nov 2025

Self-guided hypnosis offers safe relief from menopausal hot flashes

Can a simple daily audio hypnosis session help women find relief from one of menopause's most disruptive symptoms – hot flashes – without medication? A new clinical trial led by Baylor University's Gary R. Elkins, Ph.D., professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory, suggests it can.

11 Nov 2025

Metformin shows promise in treating AFib recurrence after ablation

People with atrial fibrillation (AFib) and obesity may have fewer episodes of AFib after ablation if they take the diabetes medication metformin in addition to standard care, according to a preliminary, late-breaking science presentation today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2025.

11 Nov 2025

New data supports earlier use of evolocumab in high-risk diabetes

Adding the PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab to a high-intensity, cholesterol-lowering regimen reduced the risk of a first major cardiovascular event among adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) or diabetes , according to a preliminary late-breaking science presentation today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2025.

11 Nov 2025

Novel triple receptor agonist shows potent efficacy in lowering high triglycerides

In a small, short duration trial (12 weeks), a new medication called DR10624 reduced triglyceride levels in most patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia by more than 60%, according to a preliminary late-breaking science presentation today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2025.

11 Nov 2025

Diabetes drugs semaglutide and tirzepatide show real-world heart benefits

In a large real-world analysis across three U.S. healthcare databases, semaglutide and tirzepatide showed cardiovascular benefits consistent with randomized trials. Semaglutide lowered heart attack and stroke risk versus sitagliptin, while tirzepatide performed comparably to dulaglutide and semaglutide over one year.

10 Nov 2025

Daily oral medication matches injectable therapies in reducing bad cholesterol

Among people with a previous heart attack or stroke, or who are at high risk for one, a daily oral medication may offer an effective alternative to injections of PCSK9 inhibitors to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL or "bad" cholesterol), according to a preliminary late-breaking science presentation today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2025.

10 Nov 2025

PCSK9 inhibitor combined with a statin may help reduce LDL cholesterol after heart transplant

The cholesterol medication alirocumab, a PCSK9 inhibitor, combined with a statin appeared to reduce LDL cholesterol levels by more than 50% among patients after a heart transplant, according to a late-breaking science presentation today at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2025.

10 Nov 2025

Triglyceride-lowering drug can also decrease the risk of acute pancreatitis

Researchers from Mass General Brigham have found that olezarsen-a drug designed to lower triglyceride levels-can also decrease the risk of acute pancreatitis, a potential complication in patients with severely elevated triglyceride levels.

10 Nov 2025

SGLT2 inhibitors show consistent cardio-renal protection in 70,000 patients

In late-breaking presentations at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week meeting and simultaneously published in two companion papers in JAMA, the findings are based on data from over 70,000 participants across 10 major randomised controlled trials. The meta-analyses were conducted by the SGLT2 Inhibitor Meta-analysis Cardio-Renal Trialists' Consortium (SMART-C), led by The George Institute for Global Health.

7 Nov 2025

Diabetes drug blunts exercise-induced health improvements

A widely prescribed diabetes drug may be sabotaging one of the most trusted strategies for preventing the disease: exercise.

7 Nov 2025

Intensive mind-body retreat rapidly alters brain function and blood biology

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have found that an intensive retreat combining multiple mind-body techniques, including meditation and healing practices, produced rapid and wide-ranging changes in brain function and blood biology.

6 Nov 2025

Can creatine help with depression? New review says results are inconclusive

Creatine supplementation may modestly reduce depressive symptoms, but the effect is small, uncertain, and likely influenced by study bias. The evidence remains of very low quality, highlighting the need for larger, well-designed clinical trials.

6 Nov 2025

Low-dose THC mitigates harmful side effects and inflammation caused by HIV treatment

Long-term, low doses of THC mitigate many harmful side effects and inflammation caused by HIV and antiretroviral therapy (ART), according to new research from Texas Biomedical Research Institute.

6 Nov 2025