Cracking the Placebo Problem in Dermatology: Understanding, Measuring & Mitigating Signal Dilution in Clinical Trials
- Interrogating why placebo responses are uniquely high in dermatology, examining biological, neurological, behavioural, and trial-design drivers to distinguish true treatment effect from contextual and care-related responses
- Evaluating methodological levers to reduce placebo inflation, including endpoint selection, clinician vs patient-reported outcomes, sample size strategy, mode of administration, and site-level operational practices
- Navigating regulatory expectations in high-placebo indications, exploring how agencies interpret placebo-heavy datasets and what design adaptations are acceptable to preserve statistical and clinical relevance