Use of Adverse Effects of Drugs in Modern Medicine for Developing Homeopathy Materia Medica with Some Insights for Modern Medicine: A Conceptual and Application Framework

Abstract

Homeopathy is now more than two centuries old science, using various substances for cures of human and animal health problems. Homeopathy’s approach is to use serially diluted /potentized doses of substances for conditions that are otherwise recorded as side effects of these modern medicinal substances used in therapeutic doses. The double-blind randomized controlled trial is not a very suitable study design for generating evidence for the efficacy of homeopathy because of the process of individualized selection of a medicine. However, Evidence-Based-Medicine, combining case reports and case series of cures, along with physicians’ experiences, and patients’ opinions can to some extent help validate `homeopathic’ cures. The present article, assuming homeopathy works and cures, though not knowing how it may be working, presents a database of drugs and adverse effects (AE) developed by modern pharmacology tested in worldwide population of users and over a longer time frame, with a primary argument that the AE-data can be used for developing new medicines in homeopathy, added symptomatology and more cures in homeopathy using these modern medicines, with due approach of dilution and potentization and the proving of new remedies. The secondary argument here is about rethinking the dose-response relationship in modern pharmacology on the hormetic approach. The database is open to access for all practitioners to get drug-AE and AE-drug relationships.