The Ministry of Health will not publish any reports to evaluate the effectiveness of homeopathy as it has done with other pseudotherapies. This document began to be prepared years ago and was part of the plan against pseudosciences promoted in 2018 by former ministers Carmen Montón and María Luisa Carcedo (PSOE), but it did not see the light of day.
“It is a waste of resources for science to say that homeopathy is not a science,” number two of the Ministry, Javier Padilla, in a forum organized by The Spanish. The Secretary of State maintains that “there is a change of perspective” and that “it is not reasonable to invest public resources in the evaluation of things which we know are not useful” in response to questions from this media following information already provided. Medical writing.
However, the ministry, now in the hands of Sumar, in April made public its findings on the effectiveness of eight techniques, including aromatherapy, suction cups –or vacuum therapy, consisting of the application of cups, usually glass or plastic, heated to the skin or using other cupping techniques – or tai chi. In this case, Health is assured, the disclosed reports “have been produced and validated”.
The government published the first four reports, developed by the Spanish Network of Health Technology Agencies and SNS Benefits when Carolina Darias (PSOE) was in charge of the portfolio. That was in 2021. Then the ministry announced that it was working on 26 more documents as part of the #coNprove plan.
These are products that continue to be sold in pharmacies and there are people who don’t know it.
Fernando Frias
— Lawyer expert in pseudosciences.
“We know that homeopathy was one of the first to be launched out of interest. Then came the coronavirus, it was not a priority and until today,” complains Fernando Frías, lawyer expert in pseudoscience. Frías considers that it was important for the government to respect the commitment made in 2018 because “these are products that continue to be sold in pharmacies and there are people who do not know about it”.
Padilla, however, on Tuesday called on pharmacists not to sell compounds that are not supported by evidence: “What is not supported by science should not be in pharmacy. » Health says it will continue to fight against pseudotherapies thanks to an agreement with the Collegiate Medical Organization (OMC). The organization which brings together medical associations has an observatory “against pseudosciences, intrusions and health sects”.
“Without approved therapeutic indication”
To understand what happened to homeopathy in Spain, we have to go back to 2018. Then, the Minister of Health Dolors Montserrat (PP) approved a ministerial decree at the request of a European directive that had already been in force since years and which allowed homeopathic pharmaceutical products to be sold in pharmacies. “The European directive said that it was necessary to establish standards to verify its effectiveness, taking into account its homeopathic nature. In Spain, this has been transcribed in the royal decree on the authorization of medicines for human use,” confirms Frías.
The ministry then gave producers three months to adapt to the regulations and pass a quality control and, some time later, the ministry – already led first by the socialist Carmen Montón and, after her resignation, by María Luisa Carcedo – published a list of 2,008 producers. authorization requests. Products that were not on this list had to be withdrawn from the market.
Current regulations allow homeopathy laboratories to regulate their products through a simplified procedure, for which it is not necessary to present the effectiveness tests that other medicines follow, but they must meet three conditions: that the route of administration is oral or external, that the degree of dilution guarantees the safety of the product and the absence of particular therapeutic indication. A year later, in 2019, Health ordered the withdrawal of 66 compounds “for therapeutic indication” or for “injectable administration” for “not having provided the corresponding documentation for authorization”.
Today, the list of regularized products is 129. All must carry the following message on the leaflet. “Homeopathic medicine without approved therapeutic indications. Authorized by a simplified special registration, in which its pharmaceutical quality and safety are guaranteed, without the need to present efficacy data (Directive 2001/83/EC). Consult a healthcare professional for its use and consult a doctor if symptoms persist.
Also in 2018, the government banned by royal decree doctors – neither in public nor private health establishments – from using homeopathic products during their consultations. In other words, they can be purchased in pharmacies but cannot be prescribed.
