SynthesisBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2026
Placebo response and its influencing factors in acne vulgaris: A model-based meta-analysis.
Synthesis in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Placebo response and its influencing factors in acne vulgaris: A model-based meta-analysis.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
aimsThe high placebo response in acne clinical trials has slowed down the progress of new drug development. Therefore, this study used a model-based meta-analysis method to quantitatively analyse the placebo response and explore its influencing factors.
methodsThis study included 21 627 subjects from acne-related randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials. Pharmacodynamic models were developed for four endpoints: total lesion counts absolute change, noninflammatory lesion counts absolute change, inflammatory lesion counts absolute change and treatment success rate defined by the investigator global assessment scale. Covariate modelling and subgroup analyses were performed to explore influencing factors. Placebo response under different conditions was simulated based on the final model.
resultsModel simulation results showed that for the typical population, after 12 weeks of placebo intervention, their total lesion counts, noninflammatory lesion counts and inflammatory lesion counts were reduced by 19.05 (95% confidence interval: 16.54-21.52), 10.71 (9.18-12.17) and 8.58 (7.55-9.58) from baseline, respectively; the treatment success rate was 11.83% (9.41%-14.35%). Baseline lesion counts, female proportion, Caucasians proportion, sample size, dosage form, type of control drug, skincare programme, number of centres, funding source, study locations and publication year could all influence placebo response. We also used our model to synthesize placebo arms for two single-arm studies, demonstrating the efficacy superiority of the drugs.
conclusionsThis study quantitatively described the time-response relationship of placebo in acne clinical trials, revealing the influence of baseline characteristics and trial design characteristics, which could provide evidence for optimizing clinical trial design.
trial registrationPROSPERO (CRD420250649902).
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Registered trials
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