NCT04250571 is a NA clinical trial of information about "No treatment group" in Test Anxiety, sponsored by University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.

Who is sponsoring NCT04250571?

NCT04250571 is sponsored by University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.

What drugs are being tested in NCT04250571?

Interventions in NCT04250571: information about "No treatment group", imaginary pill technique, open label placebo.

What condition does NCT04250571 study?

NCT04250571 studies Test Anxiety.

Is NCT04250571 still recruiting?

NCT04250571 is currently completed. Last updated 25 August 2023.

Last reviewed 2023-08-25 · How we verify

NCT04250571

Name: Drug Landscape Pharmaceutical Database
Creator: Drug Landscape
Published: 2026-01-01
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Taking Open Label Placebo Further: Trial of Imaginary Pills in Test Anxiety

Completed NA Last updated 25 August 2023

What this trial tests

NA trial testing information about "No treatment group" in Test Anxiety in 177 participants. Completed in 31 July 2021.

Timeline

6 March 2020

Primary endpoint
31 July 2021

31 July 2021

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Phase	NA
Status	Completed
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	none
Primary purpose	basic science
Enrollment	177
Start date	6 March 2020
Primary completion	31 July 2021
Estimated completion	31 July 2021
Sites	1 location across Switzerland

Drugs / interventions tested

information about "No treatment group"
imaginary pill technique
open label placebo — full drug profile →

Conditions studied

Test Anxiety — all drugs for Test Anxiety →

Sponsor

University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Who can join

Adults 18 to 65, any sex, with Test Anxiety. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Employing imaginary pills could offer a new way of investigating underlying mechanisms of open label placebo (OLP) treatment by eliminating the physical treatment constituent (i.e., the pill itself). This can reveal the power of the purely psychological component of a placebo and gives insights into underlying mechanisms of placebo effects. The aim of the project is to assess possible effects of an imaginary pill in comparison to no treatment, and open label placebo treatment in subjects with test anxiety. Interventions (seven to three weeks before the exam) will be held online using a video Chat application such as zoom (https://zoom.us/) or skype (https://www.skype.com/de/) or will take place at the division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Basel (Missionsstrasse 62, 4055 Basel).

Publications & conference data

2 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

Imaginary pills and open-label placebos can reduce test anxiety by means of placebo mechanisms.
Buergler S, Sezer D, Bagge N, Kirsch I, et al · · 2023 · cited 15× · PMID 36788309 · DOI 10.1038/s41598-023-29624-7
A qualitative study of imaginary pills and open-label placebos in test anxiety.
Buergler S, Sezer D, Busch A, Enzmann M, et al · · 2023 · cited 1× · PMID 37656757 · DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0291004

Verify or expand the search:

Other recruiting trials for Test Anxiety

Currently open trials in the same condition.

NCT06695650 — The Effect of Mandala Coloring Activity on Test Anxiety · NA · recruiting

Other University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland trials

Trials by the same sponsor.

NCT07444788 — Acute Effects of Intravenous 5-MeO-DMT in Healthy Participants · Phase 1 · recruiting
NCT07494214 — Acute Analgesic Effects of MDMA on Experimentally Induced Acute Pain, Hyperalgesia and Allodynia in Healthy Participants · Phase 1 · recruiting
NCT07419048 — Artificial Intelligence or Human Hand? Evaluating Inferior Vena Cava Imaging for Hydration Status · recruiting
NCT06978777 — Effect of Caffeine on Cold-stimulated Brown Adipose Tissue Activity · NA · recruiting
NCT07273630 — Effect of Protein Supplementation and Fluid Restriction on Plasma Sodium Levels in Patients Undergoing Pituitary Surgery · NA · recruiting

Verify against primary sources

ClinicalTrials.gov — authoritative US registry record
WHO ICTRP — international registry index
EU Clinical Trials Register
Sponsor press releases (Google)

Data sources for this page

Trial protocol + status: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04250571 (US National Library of Medicine, public domain)
Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 10 June 2026
Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Last refreshed: 25 August 2023

Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT04250571.

Primary sources · FDA · ClinicalTrials.gov · EMA · SEC EDGAR · ChEMBL · Wikidata · full sourcing