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A Placebo in the Home Medicine Cabinet?

A chewable, cherry-flavored dextrose tablet will soon be marketed to parents as a placebo treatment for children

A placebo is a substance with no direct pharmacologic effect that is given to reinforce a patient's expectation to get well. A chewable, cherry-flavored dextrose tablet will soon be marketed to parents as a placebo treatment for children. To capture the imagination of prospective parents, the name of the product, Obecalp, is the word placebo spelled backward. The developer of the placebo tablet, a parent of young children, promotes the product as a way to reduce potential harm from unnecessary medication.

However, physicians and bioethicists point out that although placebos might be useful in some situation, ". giving children a 'medicine' for every ache and pain teaches that every ailment has a cure in a bottle."

Use of placebos in the treatment of children certainly requires further examination.

There are situation where a placebo might be helpful. For example, some pediatricians prescribe a placebo for 1 week followed by a stimulant medication for new patients with ADHD to assess the need for medication. This use of a placebo is based on reports that 10 to 20% of children with ADHD have a positive response to a placebo trial. During a time when pediatricians practice the judicious use of antibiotics for respiratory infections and otitis media (ear infection), the availability of a placebo pill could persuade parents to use the placebo and delay medical attention.

Parents, what's your opinion? Perhaps you may want to discuss with your pediatrician or doctor the benefits and risks of using a placebo at home.

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