Von Dr. Jens Behnke
Interview with Dr. Jens Behnke about the evidence for homeopathy, research methodology and the interpretation of data from clinical trials.
Summary of High Level Evidence
.... Meta-analyses of RCTs comprise the highest degree of evidence in the framework of evidence based medicine. In 4 out of 5 global meta-analyses of homeopathy (all indications, all remedies) published to date potentised medicines tend to reveal specific effi-cacy in excess of placebo. According to an in depth statistical analysis the overall outcome is only negative if a large amount (90%-95%) of the available data is excluded and/or dubious statistical methods are employed.
Shang et al. 2005
The only existing negative publication in this field by Shang et al. (2005) relies on just 8 out of 110 included trials to draw the conclusion that the effects of homeopathy are completely due to placebo. The authors identified 21 trials of higher methodological quality, but they restricted their analysis to ‘larger trials’ without any scientific justification. Statistical re-analysis of Shang's data revealed that also in this meta-analysis the 21 high quality studies proved potentised remedies performing significantly better than placebo....