304: That’s how many military veterans suffering from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder were included in a major clinical trial of the effectiveness of the commonly prescribed drug, prazosin. Thousands of people with PTSD have used the drug to try to ward off the nightmares. The drug works by blocking a certain receptor in the brain, attempting to moderate the body’s natural response to stimuli. But the results of the new trial — conducted in a dozen Veterans Affairs facilities in several states over a period of six months — found that the drug was no more effective than a placebo.
Big Data: Investigating drug effectiveness
