Clinical Trials on the efficiency of
Homoeopathic Medicine

In conventional medicine, all new drugs must undergo clinical trials before being licenced for prescription by doctors. Although there have been thousands of clinical trials held on the efficiency of Homoeopathic medicinal treatment, the scientific community resists the fact that homoeopathy is a valid form of therapeutic treatment, even though billions of people over the last 200 years would attest to its medicinal benefits.

In 1854, there was an outbreak of cholera in London. The mortality rates were compared for both the homoeopathic and orthodox hospitals. The former had a mortality rate of only 16.4%, while the rate in the latter was 53.2%. The Board of Health at the time attempted to suppress these damning figures, however, it was only after the matter was raised in Parliament, that the figures were duly recorded. (British Homoeopathic Journal, October 1989, Vol. 78).

The New Orleans / Mississippi Valley Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878, is yet another example of homoeopathic success. In New Orleans, 1945 cases were treated homoeopathically with 110 deaths (mortality rate of 5.6%). In the rest of the South, 1969 cases were treated homoeopathically with 151 deaths (mortality of 7.7%). This is a favourable comparison with the mortality rate for conventional treatment of at least 16%. (Harris Coulter, {1982, 2nd Edition} Divided Legacy: The Conflict between Homoeopathy and the American Medical Association, pp. 298-302).

The effectiveness of homoeopathic treatment for the 1918 influenza epidemic of Philadelphia, USA, is particularly striking. Julian Winston's The Faces of Homoeopathy: An Illustrated History of the first 200 years (1999, p. 236-237) quotes from the findings in W. A. Dewey's article "A chorus of Fifty in Harmony" in the Journal of American Homoeopathy in 1921: A Philadelphian Homoeopath, Dean Pearson treated 26,795 cases with the mortality rate of 1.05%, which was compared with the rate of 30% for conventional treatment. Dr Frank Wieland, M.D. of Chicago, told how in a plant of 8000 workers, there was only one death. Gelsemium was practically the only medicine prescribed, and neither aspirin nor vaccines were used.

During World War II, there were experiments on the homoeopathic treatment of mustard gas burns, for the Ministry of Defence. Controlled trials of mustard gas nosode 30c, and the Homoeopathic medicine, Rhus toxicodendron 30c, showed a protective effect when these were taken as a preventative measure, and curative effect when either Rhus toxicodendron 30c or Kali bichromicum 30c were prescribed according to the individuals symptoms. The study was double-blind, placebo-controlled, and was conducted at two separate hospitals (London and Glasgow), both showing similarly positive results. (J. Paterson, "Report on Mustard Gas Experiments", Journal of the American Institute of Homeopathy, 1944, 37: 47-50, 88-92).

Dr Gibson and his colleagues from the Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital conducted a study in 1980, on the homoeopathic treatment of rheumatoid arthritis compared to the orthodox treatment by the drug aspirin. The results showed that the improvement rate was higher among the former group. However, a combination of aspirin and the correctly indicated homoeopathic medicine was even more effective. (R. G. Gibson, S. Gibson, A.D. MacNeill, et al., "Homoeopathic Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Evaluation by Double-blind Clinical Therapeutic Trial", British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 1980, 9:453-59).

In 1986, there was a double-blind study of the homoeopathic treatment for hay fever, by Dr Reilly. This showed significantly reduced symptoms (six times fewer symptoms) in patients taking prescribed homoeopathic medicines, (which was actually the causative allergens made into a 30c homoeopathic preparation), compared with those only taking a placebo. (David Reilly, Morag Taylor, C. McSharry, et al., "Is Homoeopathy a Placebo Response? Controlled Trial of Homoeopathic Potency, with Pollen in Hay fever as Model" Lancet, October 18, 1986, 881-86).

One other very interesting trial was in the treatment of primary fibromyalgia (also called fibrositis). Patients with fibrositis were admitted into a trial in which homoeopathic physicians chose between three possible medicines, Arnica, Rhus tox, and Bryonia. Half of the patients were given one of the three medicines, and the other half were given placebos. There was no discernable difference between these groups. However, as an integral part of the experimenter's design, a panel of Homoeopaths evaluated the accuracy of each prescription. This analysis found that those patients whom the panel considered to have received the correct medicine experienced a statistically significant improvement in symptoms as compared to those patients given the "incorrect" medicine or the placebo. (P. Fisher, et al., "An Experimental Double-Blind Clinical Trail Method in Homoeopathy: Use of a Limited Range of Remedies to Treat Fibrositis," British Homoeopathic Journal, 1986, 75: 142-147).

These same researchers next conducted a more sophisticated trial in the treatment of primary fibromyalgia. (P. Fisher, A. Greenwood, E. C. Huskisson, et al., "Effect of Homoeopathic Treatment on Fibrositis," British Medical Journal, August 5, 1989, 299: 365-366). This Double-Blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial admitted only those patients who fit the symptoms of Rhus tox. The researchers found that this constituted 42% of the patients interviewed. One half of these 30 patients were given Rhus tox 6c during the first phase of the experiment, while the other half were given a placebo. During the second phase, those patients initially given the medicine were given a placebo, and those patients initially given a placebo were now given the homoeopathic medicine. Researchers determined at the beginning of the experiment that improvement in pain and sleeplessness were the outcome measures most important in evaluating the results in this trial, and the results showed the 25% more of the patients experienced pain relief when taking the homoeopathic medicine compared to when they were given a placebo, and almost twice as many had improved sleep when taking the medicine.

The best selling flu remedy in France is actually a homoeopathic medicine. Anas barbariae 200c, commonly marketed under the trade name Oscillococcinum™, is also popular in the USA and is effective primarily at the first signs of influenza. A double-blind study with 478 patients suffering from influenza was conducted (J.P. Ferley, D. Zmirou, D. D'Admehar, et al., "A Controlled Evaluation of a Homoeopathic Preparation in the Treatment of Influenza-like Syndrome", British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, March 1989), and the results showed that almost twice as many patient who were taking the homoeopathic medicine got over the flu after 48 hours, as compared to those given a placebo. During this study, it was found to be more effective when prescribed to someone under the age of 30, and only when the symptoms were commencing, as the more severe cases obviously needed the appropriately prescribed homoeopathic medicine.

A review of 105 controlled clinical trials on Homoeopathy, published in the British Medical Journal, showed that homoeopathic medicinal treatment was successful in 81 of those trials (Kleijnen, et al., "Clinical Trials of Homeopathy" British Medical Journal 302; 316-23, 1991).

In 1997, this trial was reported in two parts; one to evaluate the efficiency of homoeopathy for the treatment of warts (by prescribing the following medicines; Ruta graveolens, Nitricum acidum, Dulcamara, Causticum and Thuja), and the other to evaluate the homoeopathic medicine, Calcarea carbonica, for Molluscum contagiosum. Placebo controlled studies involving a total of 147 subjects using single medicines in 30c potencies three times daily, 200c potencies twice daily, and 1M potency once daily, for a total of 15 days, which demonstrated that homoeopathy was superior to placebo. Thuja was the most effective medicine found for the treatment of warts. (Manchanda R. K., Mehan N., Bahl R., Atey R., "Double blind Placebo Controlled Clinical Trails of Homoeopathic Medicines in Warts and Molluscum contagiosum," CCRH Quarterly Bulletin, 1997, 19, 25-29.

In the 2000 clinical trial on the homoeopathic treatment of diarrhoea, 116 Nepalese children, aged six months to 5 years old, were prescribed an individualized medicine or placebo. Treatment showed a significant improvement in the condition, compared to that of the placebo. (Jacobs J., Jimenez M., Malthouse S., Chapman E., Crothers D., Masuk M., Jonas W. B., "Acute Childhood Diarrhoea - A Replication" Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 6, 2000, 131-139.