Efficacy Labs
Inert placebo capsules
for studying a
complex response.
Efficacy Labs develops and supplies inert placebo products for research, education and transparent open-label applications.
Looking for consumer quantities? View products
“Sometimes what isn’t in the capsule is exactly the point.”
Placebos have been fundamental to controlled research for generations. At the same time, researchers continue to investigate the effects of expectation, conditioning, context, ritual and the treatment experience itself.
Efficacy Labs exists to make simple, clearly identified placebo products accessible for research, education and responsible exploration.
Two straightforward placebo options.
Pure Placebo
Active Ingredient: You.
A clearly branded placebo capsule designed around transparency and the concept of the open-label placebo.
- Inert capsule
- Clearly identified
- 30-count consumer format
Generic Placebo
Plain, unbranded, straightforward.
A straightforward, unbranded placebo option intended for applications where a highly branded consumer presentation is unnecessary.
- Inert capsule
- Simple presentation
- 30-count consumer format
- Microcrystalline cellulose filler — verify current formulation
These are retail consumer products. They should not be assumed suitable for every clinical protocol; suitability is a decision for the investigator and institution responsible for a study.
Research
Need placebos for a study?
Tell us what you’re working on.
Researchers and institutions may have requirements that extend beyond an individual consumer bottle.
Efficacy Labs welcomes inquiries regarding academic studies, behavioral research, pilot studies, educational applications and other legitimate research uses.
We want to understand the protocol before assuming that an off-the-shelf product is appropriate.
Academic, institutional and professional inquiries are welcome.
Where placebos are used.
Research requirements vary considerably. Product suitability should be evaluated by the investigator and institution responsible for the study.
- 01Behavioral Research
- 02Psychology
- 03Expectation & Conditioning Studies
- 04Open-Label Placebo Research
- 05Pilot Studies
- 06Education & Demonstration
- 07Control Applications
A control can reveal what the treatment cannot.
In controlled research, placebos help investigators distinguish effects attributable to an intervention from effects associated with expectation, context, natural variation and other influences.
The placebo response itself has also become an area of research. Mechanisms remain an active area of scientific inquiry.
Factors researchers have examined
- Expectation
- Conditioning
- Treatment ritual
- Patient–provider interaction
- Branding and presentation
- Open-label placebo
- Nocebo response
Open-label placebo
What if everyone knows it’s a placebo?
Traditional placebo research commonly involves blinding. Open-label placebo research asks a different question: what happens when participants are explicitly told that the intervention is inert?
A growing body of research has explored this question across clinical and non-clinical settings. Researchers have reported placebo-associated effects in some open-label studies, while findings vary by population, outcome and methodology.
Read the research, not the marketing.
View Research LibraryNational Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH)
Placebo Effects: What the Science Says
A public-health overview of how placebo responses are studied and what researchers currently understand about them.
Ongoing
(opens in a new tab)Scientific Reports / PubMed
Open-label placebo treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis
A pooled analysis of trials in which participants were told they were receiving a placebo. Reported effects vary by population, outcome and methodology.
2021
(opens in a new tab)PLoS ONE / PubMed
Placebos without deception: a randomized controlled trial in IBS
An early open-label placebo trial that prompted much of the subsequent research interest in non-deceptive placebo administration.
2010
(opens in a new tab)
These are independent publications and institutions. Citation does not imply endorsement of Efficacy Labs, and none of this research was conducted using Efficacy Labs products.
What’s inside should not be mysterious.
A placebo should be exactly what it says it is.
For consumer products, Efficacy Labs clearly identifies the products as placebos and provides ingredient information so users and researchers can understand what they are working with.
Inert placebo capsule
- Generic Placebo
- Microcrystalline cellulose
- Pure Placebo
- See current product label
- Active ingredient
- None
Formulations are not assumed identical between products. The current product label is authoritative.
Working on something that requires a placebo?
Tell us about the study, application or requirement. We’ll determine whether an existing Efficacy Labs product may be appropriate and discuss what comes next.