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Letters to the Editor
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Complementary medicine
Need for research into safety and efficacy
From Professor E. Ernst
The article on frequently
asked questions about medicines was most revealing
(PJ, 3 February, p140).
In particular, I was surprised how many of these questions relate to complementary
and alternative medicine (CAM). This indicates a level of uncertainty which,
I think, needs addressing by adequate research and reliable information.
Sadly neither is being pursued at present by the UK government.
In 2000, the House of Lords issued a report on CAM which recommended more
research, primarily of the safety and efficacy of CAM, and better information
for all concerned.1
The Government did not follow these recommendations. Instead of rigorous
research into safety and efficacy issues, it initiated several PhD projects
mostly on the sociology of CAM.2
Instead of adequate patient information, it funded a patient guide, which
reads like a promotional brochure for CAM and tells us nothing about efficacy
and little about safety. In fact, a draft of this guide did contain some
rudimentary efficacy data. They were, however, omitted in the final text.
The Department of Health later claimed that such information was never
part of the contract with the Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated
Health, the organisation responsible for the guide.3
Wills and Campbell have convincingly demonstrated that questions about
CAM are among those most frequently asked by patients. Is it therefore
not time that the DoH helps us to get in a position from where we can answer
them reliably?
Edzard Ernst
Director of Complementary Medicine
Peninsula Medical School
Exeter
References
1. House of Lords, Science and Technology Committee Sixth Report. 2000
2. Garrow J, Glenn S, Wilson P, Kleijnen J, Walton J, Colquhoun D. UK
government funds CAM research. Focus on Alternative and Complementary
Therapy 2003;8:
397–401
3. The Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Integrated Healthcare. Complementary
Healthcare: a guide for patients. London: The Foundation; 2005 |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal