Publisher Sells Belief in a Pill to Promote Book

According to the website, the nutraceutical Amelior can help mood, joint pain, and complexion. But there’s just one problem: it doesn’t do anything to achieve those results. It’s an inert placebo described in the latest spiritual fiction from Code Publishing, “Now and at the Hour of Our Death.”

“In the book,” author JSB Morse explains, “one of the characters takes what he thinks is a psychoactive pharmaceutical—a miracle pill—that gives him superhuman mental powers. But the pill is really just a placebo and everything he thought it was doing was really just his own belief system.”

Code Publishing worked with Amelior Institute to develop the FDA-approved pill, which is composed of only inert filler ingredients. They also posted several peer-reviewed studies that show the placebo is as or more effective than expensive pharmaceuticals with dangerous side effects.

When asked of the ethics of selling an inert pill with claims of medical benefits, Morse says that there is no ethical problem. “Studies show that people taking placebo really improve their condition, but they must believe that they will for it to work. The companies that push dangerous pharmaceuticals that are less effective than placebo are the ones who should be ethically questioned.”

Previously released books by Code Publishing include “Gods of Ruin: A Political Thriller” and “Chaos and Kingdom: A Financial Thriller.”