The Challenge of Non-Reproducibility of Old Homoeopathic Drugs and the Need for their Standardisation and Re-Proving

Abstract

Introduction The system of homoeopathic medicine calls for continued development and upgrading. Many drugs used in homoeopathy have limited information about their original composition and collection method, making their exact reproducibility practically impossible or challenging. To improve the quality, reliability, ethics, legality, purity and science, there is an urgent need to review, revise, revolutionise, re-develop, remove and revamp many drugs in the Materia Medica in the current light of technology and modern medical knowledge. Method A rigorous literature review of homoeopathy Materia Medica, pharmacopeia and manufacturing units was done. Based on the literature review, we have identified some challenges and suggested ways to overcome them. Observation and Discussion The common observation is that most homoeopathy drugs prepared and sold in the market are prepared by simply stepping up the ‘back-potencies.’ Many drugs could be made afresh without depending on the old stocks of back-potencies. Although few pharmacies have started this practice in the UK, Brazil, the United States and India, many pharmacies prefer the back-potency route probably due to the reasons such as difficulty in procuring identical raw materials (e.g. Lachesis, Tarentula, Spongia, X-ray), expensive raw materials (e.g. Aurum metallicum, Argentum nitricum, Platina) and lack of facility to process the raw material (e.g. Phosphorus, Radium bromide, Diptherinum, Carcinosin).Well-defined mechanisms are required for drug standardisation, authenticity and quality of source material, standardised potentisation method, quantifiable force parameter, complete tracking record of back potency (traceability).