"Homeopathy is safe and has no side effects, yet 'Big Pharama' keeps pushing their poisons on us because they're greedy."

Have you heard this before? I have. If modern medicines have side-effects or aren't effective in 100% of cases, the reason doctors don't stop using them is because so-called 'Big Pharma' makes tons of money off of them.

Well, part of that is true. Pharmaceutical companies do make money from the products they make. Just like McDonalds or Home Depot or.... hey, what's this? Companies that make homeopathic products make money too!

Let's consider just one: Boiron.

Boiron makes homeopathic "remedies." They are a corporation, in fact they're the second largest maker of over the counter preparations in France. Here's their page on their 2009 end-of-year market capitalization. Looks like business to me, and yes, looks like a BIG business. They make the common preparation Oscillococcinum, which is a homeopathic preparation of muscovy duck liver supposed to treat influenza. In other words, they're sugar pills that are sold for about $2.50 a pill. During the recent H1N1 outbreak, I noticed that the large display of the product was almost empty in a local "health" food store.

$2.50 a pill isn't unheard of in prescpription medicine, but when you consider that homeopathic remedies require no FDA regulation, no testing, no trials, and apparently very little quality control, their profit margins must be considerable.

All arguments about the "greed of Big Pharma" can be thrown right back at the person making them. There is greed in the pharmaceutical industry and no one is disputing that, but the industry is heavily regulated, and most important of all – they have proven results.

Homeopathy is amost pure greed. Other than the occassional placebo effect, we know it doesn't work, and so must the makers.

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Mr. Wagg you are being much to reasonable
written by Xiphos, July 26, 2010

and logical and homeopathy can't survive with those titans arrayed against it. After all if you attach the "big" in front of something like Pharma or Oil it is supposed to be a pejorative becasue after all "small" is better somehow. I really detest the way politicians, "activist" and their fellow travelers have corrupted language for personal gain.

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And with all the money they make...
written by garyg, July 26, 2010

...why don't makers and purveyors of homeopathic products spend lots of money on research like "big Pharma"

Oh wait, they already KNOW the results (and don't want to risk anyone seein them)

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written by jay.tarnoff, July 26, 2010

21,734,528 euros in shares? I guess their profits aren't quite as dilute as their preparations...

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written by hamradioguy, July 26, 2010

Boiron "sleeping medication" was what I consumed this spring when I did a local demonstration of homeopathy. At something like 50 pills for around $10 I guess it was a bargain. On the other hand at 30C dilution maybe not so much a bargain for an ounce of sugar and starch.

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written by GleeDuck, July 26, 2010

Oscillococcinum bothers me greatly, mostly because I see it in a display near the counter at my drug store. Y'know, where I go to pick up real drugs, prescribed by a doctor. I really wish there was some way to prevent the quack remedies being sold by a pharmacy, thereby legitimizing them - but then, I guess they've got to make money, too. Still,

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written by kenhamer, July 26, 2010

but when you consider that homeopathic remedies require no FDA regulation, no testing, no trials, and apparently very little quality control, their profit margins must be considerable.

You forgot something... "homeopathic remedies" also require no ingredients.

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Homeopathy on Animals
written by Jonnydee, July 27, 2010

Hi, a little off topic here but my friends father is an homeopathic vet and keeps trying to convince me that homeo does work. His killer arguement is "Animals can´t lie or be tricked into a placebo effect". Does anybody know of any studies done on animals? I know they have a different metabolism than humans. I would love to be able to blow his arguement out of the Water. The age of Hocus Pocus Medicine really needs to go.

Thanks for any replies.

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@jonnydee
written by stuart, July 27, 2010

This might be a good place to start http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org...ll/3/2/171

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Study on Vets
written by Rustylizard, July 27, 2010

@Jonnydee
The vet is the one being fooled, so I think a double-blind study would have to be performed on the vet, not the animal. With half the animals given ordinary sugar tablets and the other half given homeopathic sugar tablets, could the vet actually tell the difference? When pigs fly. But the study wouldn't be fair to the animals, for they would not get reliable medication.

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@jonnydee
written by twoyboy, July 27, 2010

Here's a great explanation:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=263

It explains, as Rustylizard says, that the trick is on the vet and the owners of the pets, not the animal. So it's worse than the placebo effect in that the animal doesn't even feel better, the people around it are just fooled into thinking it does.

I imagine PETA would be all over it if they weren't so busy stripping naked for more glamorous causes...

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The placebo effect on animals
written by garyg, July 27, 2010

Unless the animal is so fearful or in pain to be unmanageable most pets will react positively to petting
and handling and thus appear contented. Until it stops.

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written by Jonnydee, July 27, 2010

Thanks guys. Major help. Much appreciated.

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written by patrick767, July 28, 2010

sigh... homeopathic vets really sadden me. At least a human being can do some research if they have the desire and learn for themselves that homeopathy is bunk, or if they're not feeling better they can simply go buy some real medicine and/or see a doctor. The pet doesn't have that option. They're in pain, they don't understand it, and their owner could help them but instead has taken them to a quack vet. Poor animals.

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written by Greg1138, July 29, 2010

Jonnydee - don't forget good old "Regression to the Mean" too...

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