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Regarding this article; while drug companies wish to market their products, my attention is drawn to the fact that 1 in 8 of the control group of psoriasis patients was cured by placebo effect. Who will investigate the process therein? Is there a market for it?

Carson Barnes
Loma Mar, Calif.

A potent placebo effect, even of 12 percent, isn’t unheard of in medical studies. To find out more about the placebo effect and efforts to capitalize on it, see “Medicinal Mimicry: Sometimes, placebos work—but how?” (SN: 2/3/01, p. 74) and “Intrinsic Remedies for Pain: Placebo effect may take various paths in brain” (SN: 1/21/06, p. 37). —Nathan Seppa