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GCSE Biology · key term
An inactive treatment made to resemble the treatment being tested, used to provide a comparison in some clinical trials.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Specification 4.3.1.9 · Paper 1
An inactive treatment made to resemble the treatment being tested, used as a comparison in a clinical trial.
Revise: Drug DevelopmentTo distinguish these changes from the drug's genuine effect, some patients in a trial may receive a placebo—a treatment that resembles the real one but contains no active drug. The outcomes of the drug group can then be compared with those of the placebo group.
Specification 5.20 · Paper 1
Do not say that a placebo contains a smaller dose of the drug. It has no active drug and provides a comparison with the treatment group.
Explain why controls are used: a placebo provides a comparison, while blinding reduces bias. Do not claim that the placebo contains the active medicine.
Do not say that a placebo contains a small dose of the medicine. It is an inactive treatment used for comparison.
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A treatment designed to have no therapeutic effect, used as a comparison in some clinical trials.
In later patient trials, some patients may receive the candidate medicine while a comparison group receives a placebo, which resembles the treatment but has no therapeutic ingredient. Comparing the groups helps researchers judge whether changes are due to the medicine rather than expectations or other factors.
Specification B6.3q · Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 4 (Higher)
Revise: New medicinesSome clinical trials compare the new medicine with a placebo, an inactive treatment made to look like the real one. This helps distinguish the medicine's effect from changes caused by expectation, natural recovery or other factors.
Paper 1 (Foundation), Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 3 (Higher), Paper 4 (Higher)
An inactive treatment made to resemble the treatment being investigated.
Revise: Development of MedicinesA control group may receive a placebo: an inactive treatment designed to resemble the medicine. Comparing the medicine group with the placebo group helps researchers judge whether an improvement is due to the active medicine rather than expectation or unrelated change.