Homeopathic drug standardization through biological evaluations: An untrodden avenue

ABSTRACT

Background: There is a dearth of chemico-analytical or instrumental methods for standardization and quality control of higher dilutions of homeopathic drugs. Aim: This review highlights the challenges in standardization of anti-inflammatory homeopathic drugs and suggests a battery of biological assays for their standardization. Methods: We retrieved a total 57 scientific reports from the experimental studies and scientific reviews published between January 1999 and June 2014 related to anti-inflammatory homeopathic drugs and their high dilutions. These comprised of 18 reports on preclinical evaluation, 15 on source materials, 9 on isolated constituents and 15 studies on in-vitro experiments. Few recent citations which supported the initial studies were added later during the compilation of the manuscript. Conclusion: Standardization and quality control of homeopathic mother tinctures and high dilutions warrants an urgent attention. As biological activities are observed to be attributed to the high dilutions which are practically devoid of active ingredients, their standardization may be done through the suggested battery of biological investigations. It is suggested that the current methods of standardization of homeopathic drugs need to be upgraded to include sensitive, reproducible and relevant biological assays so that the end users are assured of the quality, efficacy, and safety of homeopathic dilutions. (AU)