I saw this covered in a few different places, but The New York Times had a story about researchers discovering that patients find more expensive placebos to be more effective than cheaper placebos. The implications for marketing are obviously clear, as this could be one reason more expensive prescription drugs are more popular if patients think they work better. It also speaks to one reason that branded drugs can compete against generic competition that is chemically identical.
The actual JAMA article is online here, I feel like I'm going to be bringing this up the next time I discuss pharma marketing/advertising in class... It could also make for an interesting discussion on the ethics of marketing drugs, where part of the potential effect of the drug is purely psychological and based on how much someone (or their insurance) paid for the prescription. Is it necessarily unethical to charge more for a medication when paying extra will make patients feel better?
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