I&#x27;m not sure if I&#x27;m missing something either about statistics or about how the trials work, so maybe someone can enlighten me:<p>&gt; <i>Based on patients’ ratings of their pain, the effect of trialled drugs in relieving symptoms stayed the same over the 23-year period — but placebo responses rose. In 1996, patients in clinical trials reported that drugs relieved their pain by 27% more than did a placebo. But by 2013, that gap had slipped to just 9%.</i><p>Wouldn&#x27;t an easier way to look at it be to completely ignore the effects of the actual drugs in those trials, and just look at the data of how many people took placebos and to what extent those people reported changes?