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burtzev OP t1_j7hc4hw wrote

Reply to comment by AllanfromWales1 in Tilavonemab in early Alzheimer’s disease: results from a phase 2, randomized, double-blind study by burtzev

Three different amounts of the drug. As for placebo it would be 'hard' to devise 3 different amounts of nothing in solution. Maybe one could lie to the control group and tell them that they are getting different doses of the nothing solution. The article compares the effects to the placebo, hence the results are implicit in the design.

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Brain_Hawk t1_j7hw0ee wrote

You don't have to dose placebo. You tell the participants there are either two or four conditions in a case like this. Most likely you've reveal the full design, that they will either receive a placebo or one of three doses of the drug. After that the participant and the researchers are blind as to what condition each participant is in. Until after the analysis is done.

You are not ethically allowed to lie to people and tell them they will receive medication when they might receive a placebo. They have to be aware that the possibility of placebo is there.

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burtzev OP t1_j7hxed2 wrote

I know. The part about lying was deliberately facetious. Unless you get the ethics committee really drunk before the meeting of course. The question in the comment was phrased such that I couldn't say if the author meant 3 different doses of placebo or if they had missed the part where all the doses were compared to placebo. So I covered both bases with a little sugar pill of humour.

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