3 ms·

Something worth remembering when criticising traditional herbal medicine for its lack of double blind clinical trials, is that clinical trials cost serious mone

Something worth remembering when criticising traditional herbal medicine for its lack of double blind clinical trials, is that clinical trials cost serious money. It's unfortunate, but with the way things work in the western world currently, it isn't in anyone's commercial interest to invest in proving the efficacy of any of these herbal remedies. They aren't patentable (because they're plants and because there's prior art), so even if you were to sponsor a trial that statistically proves a remedy as effective, there is nothing to stop your competition - established pharmaceutical manufacturers - from jumping on the bandwagon and eating your lunch. It just doesn't make commercial sense for anyone to invest time in them. I'm not here trying to insist that big pharma out to suppress natural medicines or whatever, or that it's some big conspiracy (or that it's not). I'm just pointing out that there's a logical, commercial reason that the we don't categorically know how effective these plants are. There are many examples of this with non-organic compounds also, that have shown therapeutic potential but are no longer studied for their benefits because too old to be protected by a patent.

LinuxBender 4y ago
established pharmaceutical manufacturers - from jumping on the bandwagon and eating your lunch Some pharma labs already do this. Most of the 50 supplements I take are made by the same labs that make prescription drugs. On the plus side, they are very good at consistent measurements. On the minus side, some of the supplements I take were actually drugs that failed approval. They still work for what I use them for, but not for what they were intended. I've come to understand they make just as much money from supplements as they do from prescription drugs given they do not have to pass the same scrutiny as prescription drugs. I use a red leaf extract that was meant to be a blood pressure drug but I can see why it failed as it is the most powerful diuretic I have ever used, meaning one can not sleep when using it. One of my favorite examples that I do not use is Viagra. It was also meant to be a blood pressure drug but failed. It had a unique side effect which led to a marketing team coming up with the term "Erectile Dysfunction" which is now considered a medical term.
dylan604 4y ago
>It's unfortunate, but with the way things work in the western world currently, it isn't in anyone's commercial interest to invest in proving the efficacy of any of these herbal remedies. this is where i'd hope a prestigious medical school would step in to do the studies.
AA-BA-94-2A-56 4y ago
Thanks for this comment. I had never even considered that the myopia produced by market forces on academia was the cause of this. I have written off natural remedies my entire life, mostly because my mother was into them, and she administered a lot of them as I grew up with what seemed like limited effectiveness. That said, I'll definitely keep more of an open mind now.
asdff 4y ago
This is what the government grant system is designed to be for: to fund research that otherwise wouldn't happen because only so much good science has a direct path to profitability within the attention-span of your average shareholder.

LinuxBender 4y ago

established pharmaceutical manufacturers - from jumping on the bandwagon and eating your lunch Some pharma labs already do this. Most of the 50 supplements I take are made by the same labs that make prescription drugs. On the plus side, they are very good at consistent measurements. On the minus side, some of the supplements I take were actually drugs that failed approval. They still work for what I use them for, but not for what they were intended. I've come to understand they make just as much money from supplements as they do from prescription drugs given they do not have to pass the same scrutiny as prescription drugs. I use a red leaf extract that was meant to be a blood pressure drug but I can see why it failed as it is the most powerful diuretic I have ever used, meaning one can not sleep when using it. One of my favorite examples that I do not use is Viagra. It was also meant to be a blood pressure drug but failed. It had a unique side effect which led to a marketing team coming up with the term "Erectile Dysfunction" which is now considered a medical term.

dylan604 4y ago

>It's unfortunate, but with the way things work in the western world currently, it isn't in anyone's commercial interest to invest in proving the efficacy of any of these herbal remedies. this is where i'd hope a prestigious medical school would step in to do the studies.

AA-BA-94-2A-56 4y ago

Thanks for this comment. I had never even considered that the myopia produced by market forces on academia was the cause of this. I have written off natural remedies my entire life, mostly because my mother was into them, and she administered a lot of them as I grew up with what seemed like limited effectiveness. That said, I'll definitely keep more of an open mind now.

asdff 4y ago

This is what the government grant system is designed to be for: to fund research that otherwise wouldn't happen because only so much good science has a direct path to profitability within the attention-span of your average shareholder.