An honest rationale
Patients learn how placebo effects work and are told plainly that nothing in the program is an active drug.
Investigational · Not FDA authorized
Honest placebo. Delivered to your phone. Built for chronic pain care.
Rxpect is redefining expectancy-based care. We turn open-label placebo, a research-tested approach where patients know exactly what they are getting, into software that runs on the phone they already carry.
Explore the platformNo deception. No pill. No clinic visit.
Published open-label placebo protocols depend on a researcher and a pill. Rxpect is built to remove both while keeping what makes the approach work.
Remote therapeutic monitoring
Built to fit how clinics already care for back pain
Medicare pays clinics to monitor musculoskeletal patients through software. Rxpect is designed as a low-burden program clinicians can offer between visits, where daily adherence is the measure that matters.
See how it worksOur platform approach packages the ingredients of open-label placebo (rationale, ritual, and expectation) into a version-locked program that can be studied, delivered, and audited the same way every time.
Our platformPipeline
View pipelineThe science
All researchBuilding a new category of honest, expectancy-based care, together.
Clinicians
Spine, pain, and PT practices exploring RTM programs for back-pain patients.
Researchers
Investigators studying OLP rationale, fidelity, and digital delivery.
Patients
Adults with chronic low back pain interested in future studies.
Partners
Investors, payors, and licensing partners in digital health.
Q&A
What is open-label placebo (OLP)?
Open-label placebo is a placebo given honestly: the patient is told it contains no active ingredient, along with an explanation of how placebo effects can still help. In randomized trials against no treatment or usual care, OLP has improved patient-reported symptoms, including in chronic low back pain.
What is Rxpect?
Rxpect is smartphone software that delivers an open-label placebo protocol: an honest rationale, a structured daily ritual, and daily symptom and adherence tracking, in a version-locked build. It was previously developed under the name PlaceboRx.
Is Rxpect FDA cleared?
No. Rxpect is investigational and has not been cleared or approved by the FDA. It is being developed and studied under research protocols.
Why deliver OLP digitally?
Published OLP protocols rely on a researcher or clinician and a physical pill. Delivering the rationale and ritual by phone could make the approach consistent, scalable, and measurable, provided digital delivery preserves the expectancy and adherence that make it work. That is the question Rxpect's next study is designed to answer.
What is remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM)?
RTM lets clinics bill Medicare for monitoring musculoskeletal patients through software between visits. For 2026, CMS added codes that cover as few as 2 days of patient data in a month, so day-to-day adherence directly shapes whether a program is viable for a clinic.
Who is Rxpect for?
The lead indication under development is chronic low back pain lasting more than three months in adults 18 and older, as an adjunct to clinician-supervised care.
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