Harsh toke

GW Pharmaceuticals' marijuana-based drug, Sativex failed to outperform a placebo in a European trial to treat neuropathic pain. The drug probably works, but unfortunately for GW so do placebos.One of our consulting clients is working on tools to identify and characterize patients who are likely to respond to placebos. One potential application is to use such a tool to exclude placebo responders from studies such as this one.