Placebo Response Reduction

Neutralize Participant Expectations. Improve Accuracy.

Placebo response leads to failed studies. If your next trial includes a placebo, you need WCG’s Placebo Response Reduction training program.

Patient expectations drive placebo response, and placebo response—along with the accuracy of patient- and clinician-reported outcomes—strongly influences the outcome of clinical trials. So to diminish the placebo response, you must neutralize the subject’s expectation that the treatment will be of benefit.

That’s what we do. WCG’s Placebo Response Reduction program provides a psychoeducational approach to training monitors, staff, and subjects. The goal: Encourage neutral expectations from subjects and reduce measurement error, which leads to more successful trials.

We now know that well-trained research staff not only can avoid passing their biases down to the patients but can help patients neutralize their own expectations.

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Improve patient-reported data with Accurate Symptom Reporting training

Teaching patients to be more introspective about what’s going on inside their own bodies allows them to report their pain—and other subjective symptoms—more accurately. In effect, you reduce variability and inoculate them against the external cues that drive the placebo response. Patients are trained at the outset and throughout the trial as needed.

WCG has developed and validated the industry-leading training program to improve the accuracy of symptom reporting.

Ensure consistent scoring with Rater Services

Ensure consistent scoring with Independent Ratings, Independent Review, and Rater Training. Rater bias, rater errors, and rater variability put the quality of clinical data–and the entire trial–at risk.

WCG delivers training based on years of clinical expertise and extensive trial experience that is firmly grounded in proven concepts of adult learning.

Because we maintain a constantly updated list of trained raters, we can deploy them quickly when and where they are needed.

Explore Placebo Response Reduction for your study

Complete the form to request a schedule a consultation. We’ll assess your needs, review our training service and demonstrate how WCG can reduce placebo response for your study.