Bias Premiums
When the subject of huge pharma company profits comes up, I usually contend that this is largely due to their powers of marketing: if you have two medications that do more or less the same thing, one brand name and one generic, people will usually demand the more expensive brand name one. It did not occur to me, though it should have, that this could ironically confer an actual benefit: since people stupidly use price and brand as a proxy for quality, this can prime placebo effects over and above what the generic would, making even chemically identical pills more effective. Pardon me while I have a wholly inappropriate fit of giggles.