Park, Sat Byul, Kim, Kyu-Nam, Sung, Eunju et al. · Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin · 2016 · DOI
Researchers tested whether injections of human placental extract (a substance derived from placentas) could help people with ME/CFS feel less fatigued. Seventy-eight people with chronic fatigue received either the placental extract or a placebo (dummy injection) three times per week for 6 weeks. Those who received the real extract reported greater improvements in fatigue levels compared to the placebo group, though the benefit was only seen in people with ME/CFS, not in those with other types of chronic fatigue.
This study provides evidence from a well-designed RCT that a specific biologic intervention may benefit ME/CFS patients, a population with limited treatment options and significant quality-of-life burden. The finding that HPE showed benefits in ME/CFS but not idiopathic chronic fatigue suggests potential disease-specific mechanisms that warrant further investigation.
This study does not establish the mechanism by which HPE works or whether benefits persist beyond 6 weeks. The restriction to a single geographic region and the small sample size mean these results may not generalize to all ME/CFS populations. Statistically significant improvement in symptom scales does not necessarily translate to clinically meaningful functional recovery.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Park, Sat Byul, Kim, Kyu-Nam, Sung, Eunju, Lee, Suk Young, & Shin, Ho Cheol (2016). Human Placental Extract as a Subcutaneous Injection Is Effective in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Multi-Center, Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study.. Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1248/bpb.b15-00623
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-park-2016-human-placental,
author = {Park, Sat Byul and Kim, Kyu-Nam and Sung, Eunju and Lee, Suk Young and Shin, Ho Cheol},
title = {Human Placental Extract as a Subcutaneous Injection Is Effective in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Multi-Center, Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study.},
journal = {Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.1248/bpb.b15-00623},
note = {PubMed: 26911970},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/park-2016-human-placental},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/park-2016-human-placental
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