• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Drug Prices & Nocebos

Drug Prices & Nocebos

October 6, 2017
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/171006_sciup_nocebo.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

The side effects of drug prices. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

More expensive drugs sometimes work better because patients expect them to. But this can have a flipside called the nocebo effect: people also expect pricier drugs to have more negative side effects. Now, researchers report in the journal Science that volunteers using a dermititis cream labeled with an expensive name brand reported more pain and had increased activity in pain processing areas of the brain, than those who used a cream with a cheap, generic label. University Medical Center of Hamburg neuroscientist Alexandra Tinnermann says the creams were actually identical and contained no active ingredients.

ALEXANDRA TINNERMANN (University Medical Center of Hamburg, Germany):

The nocebo effect is stronger in the expensive group than the cheap group.  

HIRSHON:

She says the results could help guide doctors when discussing a drug’s side effects with patients. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Story by Susanne Bard

 

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Biology, Medicine & Health
Previous Post:Origins of RNA
Next Post:Identical TripletsThree toddler triplets sitting on rug

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos