Research scientists know that data alone does not lie – but data can mislead. That’s especially true in clinical trials that rely on subjective endpoints to assess drug efficacy. Psychiatry studies, which often centre around the clinician’s assessment of disease progression or severity, have modest success rates. While the reasons are multifactorial, Dr. Anthony T. Everhart at Signant Health pinpoints excessive placebo response rates and the lack of precision in the measurement of symptom severity as root causes of trial failure, exploring how we can use central nervous system (CNS) clinical trials to boost trial success.