Opinion: Why the placebo effect deserves to be studied by legitimate doctors and scientists

To the editor: As an academic clinician and scientist with 40 years of experience, I share some of the alarm at the theme of the very generous $200-million donation given to the UC Irvine School of Medicine. (“A $200-million donation threatens to tar UC Irvine’s medical school as a haven for quacks,” Sept. 22)

Although many homeopathic therapies indeed lose credibility under careful scrutiny, there are some holistic therapies that remain largely unexplained by modern medicine. Among the most prominent is the placebo effect, in which a group of clinical trial subjects who receive an inactive treatment experiences a benefit close to that experienced by the group receiving the active treatment.

This effect, though quite disease-dependent, is universally observed in carefully designed clinical trials. Indeed, it is the reason why a placebo group is always needed for comparison in clinical trials.

If this gift could fund research into the mechanism of the placebo effect, humanity would have access to an effective intervention that is entirely safe and without cost.

Jonathan Kaunitz, M.D., Santa Monica

The writer is a professor at UCLA’s medical school.

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To the editor: I was happy to see Michael Hiltzik speak to the UCI donation and its ties to homeopathy and naturopathy.

Billionaires who believe in nonsense have used their dollars to seduce one of our universities into besmirching its biomedical program. Giving any credence to homeopathy and naturopathy in medical school is akin to adding alchemy and astrology to chemistry and astronomy programs.

The university can claim its curriculum will remain science-based, but that would entail an elimination of the nonsense and building a large firewall between the donors and the program. Unfortunately, the UCI donors still seem to be quite engaged, with integrating unproven therapies required as part of the package.

Richard Green, Ventura

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