The Spanish Agency for Medicines and Medical Products (AEMPS) has just published a comprehensive technical report entitled “Homeopathy and Homeopathic Products: Evaluation of Evidence on Their Efficacy and Safety”, which categorically concludes that there is no scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of homeopathy as a therapeutic tool. After a systematic review of scientific literature and evaluations by state agencies internationally, the report states that the observed effects are comparable to placebo.
The report, which analyzed 64 systematic reviews published since 2009, highlights that most studies suggesting benefits from homeopathy have low methodological quality, often invalidated by small samples, short follow-up periods, or biases in randomization. Furthermore, it notes that as the quality and rigor of clinical trials increase, the supposed effect of homeopathy diminishes until it disappears entirely.
From a scientific standpoint, the principles of homeopathy clash with the laws of physics and current pharmacology. In typical dilutions like 12 CH—where one part of the original substance is mixed with 100 parts of solvent twelve times consecutively—it is mathematically impossible for a single molecule of the original ingredient to remain in the preparation, breaking any cause-and-effect relationship between the product and the therapeutic effect.
To illustrate this disproportion, the report points out that a dilution of just 6 CH (far less extreme than 12 CH) equates to dissolving a packet of sugar in the entire Mediterranean Sea. For this reason, the AEMPS classifies theories like “water memory”—the belief that the liquid retains the properties of a substance even without its molecules—as empirically baseless postulates that challenge scientific and rational thinking.
In compliance with European and national regulations, the AEMPS has completed a regularization process that has resulted in the market withdrawal of numerous products. As of the report’s publication date, no homeopathic product with authorized therapeutic indications exists in Spain. The 976 that remain registered did so via a simplified procedure, based on extreme dilutions ensuring the preparation’s innocuousness, which does not require proof of therapeutic effect and legally prohibits any therapeutic claims on labeling.
Spain aligns with a global trend of health institutions adopting critical stances:
- United Kingdom: The Science and Technology Committee recommended halting public funding and requiring labeling warnings about lack of efficacy.
- Australia: The National Health and Medical Research Council concluded that homeopathy should not be used for chronic or serious diseases.
- France: The Haute Autorité de Santé eliminated public reimbursement for these products in 2021 due to lack of demonstrated efficacy.
- Germany: Approval is expected in 2026 for the definitive removal of homeopathy coverage from statutory health insurance.
- United States: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers these products “unapproved new drugs,” and the Federal Trade Commission requires warnings that there is no scientific evidence of their functioning.
Although there is a popular belief that these preparations are innocuous because they are “natural,” serious adverse reactions have been reported, including poisonings from poor dosing and infant deaths linked to teething products in other countries.
However, the AEMPS warns that the main associated risk is the abandonment or delay of proven effective medical treatments. Citizens opting for homeopathy to treat serious or chronic conditions may endanger their health by replacing evidence-based therapies with products lacking such evidence.
The AEMPS report reaffirms the Ministry’s commitment to public health protection and evidence-based medicine. In line with other international agencies, it emphasizes the need for transparent information so citizens can make safe health decisions. The conclusion of the report is firm:
Given the lack of evidence of efficacy, homeopathy cannot be considered a valid therapeutic alternative, and its use must not lead to delaying or abandoning treatments proven to be effective.
23 Responses to “Homeopathy and Homeopathic Products: Evaluation of Evidence on Their Efficacy and Safety” by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Medical Products
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Many thanks for this excellent account.
Those of us who truly care about patients must move more robustly to identify ‘homeopaths’ as frauds.
And have them prosecuted unless they obtain informed consent from patients by makiing clear:
“I will prescribe a product which has no therapeutic value, but which may help you due to a placebo response.”
That’s a fantastic idea as reading that out would give both homeopaths and homeopathees one great long laugh. Laughter helps any placebo affect. The problem is that no one in authority is going to listen to some random pontificating dinosaur.
This NEW study is quite brilliant…and just came out this week! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41724088/
They used a mouse model (BALB/c mice) infected with the parasite and compared three groups:
• Treatment with Amphotericin B alone
• Treatment with Ultradiluted antigen alone (at the 30C potency…and please note that after 12C, according to Avogadro’s #, there should not be remaining molecules)
• The combination of both
This study presents a proof-of-concept that:
• Combining a conventional antifungal/antiparasitic drug (amphotericin B) with an ultradiluted antigen preparation can:
o Increase therapeutic effectiveness
o Enhance protective immune responses
o Reduce side effects
I assume that we can all agree that there is no placebo effect involved here, unless you choose to be a LOT more metaphysical than I could ever be.
PLUS, here are just a handful of other basic science trials published in conventional scientific journals. I wonder how “creative” you have to be to think that there is some type of PLACEBO EFFECT going on here!
COVID 19: Prevention and treatment through the Indian perspective.
Chandra H, Yadav A, Prasad R, Sagar K, Bhardwaj N, Kumar Gupta K, Singh Thakur G, Nigam M, Pezzani R, Paulo Martins de Lima J, Douglas Melo Coutinho H, Prakash Mishra A.Cytokine. 2024 Nov;183:156756. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2024.156756. Epub 2024 Sep 15.PMID: 39284260
Ultra-diluted Bryonia alba extract modulates HMOX-1 gene expression to attenuate the pathogenetic effect of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein RBD antigen.
Goswami P, Chatterjee D, Ghosh S, Paira K, Das S.J Virol Methods. 2026 Feb;340:115274. doi: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2025.115274. Epub 2025 Oct 11.PMID: 41083021
Modulatory action of Bryonia alba on the immune system in cyclophosphamide induced immunosuppression in BALB/c mice.
Saka VP, Kumar GVN, Goswami A, Sanapalli BKR, Gupta P, Verma D, Kaushik S.PLoS One. 2024 Dec 31;19(12):e0309756. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309756. eCollection 2024.
Unveiling the Immunostimulatory Potential of Rhus Toxicodendron in Immunocompromised Balb/C Mice Induced with Cyclophosphamide.
Saka VP, G V NK, Sanapalli BKR, Goswami A, Roy A, Agrawal A, Gupta P, Verma D, Kaushik S.Diseases. 2024 Aug 8;12(8):178. doi: 10.3390/diseases12080178.PMID: 39195177
This NEW study is quite brilliant…and just came out this week! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41724088/
They used a mouse model (BALB/c mice) infected with the parasite and compared three groups:
• Treatment with Amphotericin B alone
• Treatment with Ultradiluted antigen alone (at the 30C potency…and please note that after 12C, according to Avogadro’s #, there should not be remaining molecules)
• The combination of both
This study presents a proof-of-concept that:
• Combining a conventional antifungal/antiparasitic drug (amphotericin B) with an ultradiluted antigen preparation can:
o Increase therapeutic effectiveness
o Enhance protective immune responses
o Reduce side effects
I assume that we can all agree that there is no placebo effect involved here, unless you choose to be a LOT more metaphysical than I could ever be.
PLUS, here are just a handful of other RECENT basic science trials published in conventional scientific journals. I wonder how “creative” you have to be to think that there is some type of PLACEBO EFFECT going on here!
COVID 19: Prevention and treatment through the Indian perspective.
Chandra H, Yadav A, Prasad R, Sagar K, Bhardwaj N, Kumar Gupta K, Singh Thakur G, Nigam M, Pezzani R, Paulo Martins de Lima J, Douglas Melo Coutinho H, Prakash Mishra A.Cytokine. 2024 Nov;183:156756. doi: 10.1016/j.cyto.2024.156756. Epub 2024 Sep 15.PMID: 39284260
Ultra-diluted Bryonia alba extract modulates HMOX-1 gene expression to attenuate the pathogenetic effect of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein RBD antigen. Goswami P, Chatterjee D, Ghosh S, Paira K, Das S.J Virol Methods. 2026 Feb;340:115274. doi: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2025.115274. Epub 2025 Oct 11.PMID: 41083021
Modulatory action of Bryonia alba on the immune system in cyclophosphamide induced immunosuppression in BALB/c mice. Saka VP, Kumar GVN, Goswami A, Sanapalli BKR, Gupta P, Verma D, Kaushik S.PLoS One. 2024 Dec 31;19(12):e0309756. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0309756. eCollection 2024.
Unveiling the Immunostimulatory Potential of Rhus Toxicodendron in Immunocompromised Balb/C Mice Induced with Cyclophosphamide. Saka VP, G V NK, Sanapalli BKR, Goswami A, Roy A, Agrawal A, Gupta P, Verma D, Kaushik S.Diseases. 2024 Aug 8;12(8):178. doi: 10.3390/diseases12080178.PMID: 39195177
I am glad you think you can cure mice, Dana.
Whoopee shit, Dana. More Indian nonsense which will be ignored by everyone apart from you. It will change nothing.
Lenny…you seem to have no problem announcing your hyper racists beliefs, even though ALL of the above studies were published in respected scientific journals. Your distain for good research is NOTED!
Dana
We know that your idea of “good research” = “any piece of risible bumwash which notionally endorses your belief in the magic powers of shaken water”
Now.
You’ve waved around countless bit of tripe in the years I’ve been posting on this forum. Show us just one paper that has changed anything. That has had an influence on mainstream scientific thought.
We’ll wait.
Oh and Dana you can take your racism bullshit and stick it up your arse. Another term you fail to understand. My dismissal of homeopathic research from India is because it is uniformly garbage as Edzard has discussed elsewhere.
please explain how this paper alters the evidence base for homeopathy.
@Ullman
Funny how the overwhelming majority of scientists think you water-shaking clowns are full of crap.
Why would that be, do you think?
And oh:
The interesting (read: stupid) bit:
“RT, known for its historical use in traditional homeopathic remedies, has demonstrated immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects in various experimental models. To test the immune-boosting effects …”
So these water-shaking clowns claim that their nostrum both suppresses an immune response (“… anti-inflammatory …”) AND at the same time enhances it (“… immune-boosting …”).
So, what is it, Einstein? Hint: it can’t be both at the same time.
How large is your packet of sugar Edzard? 6c is a 10^12 dilution. Whilst i don’t have access to the inverse homeopathic IQ capabilities of Pete Attkins I do have AI.
A 1Kg packet of sugar diluted to 10^12 would require around 10^ 12Kg of water
This is only 1 cubic Km whilst the Med is around 3 million cubic M
To fill the Mediterranean at 6c you might need 3 million kg of sugar. This would be rather a waste and could lead to a shortage.
You might have to state 9c to state Mediterranean rather than 10 x Loch Ness.
For misinformation only.
the text is not mine – just a translation of the Spanish original
Jk…a 6C potency would required simply 6 testtubes of double-distilled water.
Oliver Wendall Holmes was the first person is openly and publicly show sheer ignorance and stupidity by misunderstanding homeopathic pharmacology and using creatively deceptive mathematics.
Needless to say, ignorance is not BLISS…but I enjoy humor, irony, and satire. even when all of this is combined together.
@Ullman
Sure, a 6C dilution can be made using 6 ml test tubes of 10 ml each, transferring one drop (0.1 ml) from one test tube into the next, 6 times in a row. The end result is a 1:10^12 dilution, or 0.001 parts per billion.
But apparently you fail to understand that the comparison describes what it takes to achieve this dilution in one step, starting out with 1 kg of sugar. And it is very, very simple: diluting 1 kg of sugar by a 1:10^12 ratio in one go would require roughly 10^12 kg of water, or 1 billion cubic metres = 1 cubic kilometre. Which, as JK correctly points out, is not even close to the total volume of the Mediterranean.
But one cubic kilometre still is a huge amount of water, and illustrates the stupidity of homeopathy far better than your six test tubes. The only substances known to have any effects at these dilutions are certain hormones – but not homeopathic nostrums. Why? Simple: those hormones are highly specific molecules, evolved together with equally specific receptors, for a specific function. In contrast, the stuff that you water-shaking clowns create by diluting and shaking is NOT highly specific and most certainly did NOT evolve to have therapeutic effects at picomolar concentrations.
If anything, many active substances used in homeopathy evolved to cause harm (e.g. bee sting venom, strychnine, urushiol), so that people and other animals would stay away from the plant or animal in question. Diluting and shaking these substances does NOT magically invert(*) their effects to turn them into a medicine – they simply become less active, and most substances have no discernible effect any more at parts-per-billion levels and below.
*: And no, the vast majority of substances does not show any signs of hormesis effects either – apart from the fact that most homeopathic dilutions, if prepared correctly, don’t contain any molecules of an active substance any more.
Funny how you need to have these basic concepts explained to you time and again …
Richard…you seem to be vaccinated against REALITY…and you’ve created your own type of “fuzzy math.”
6C requires 6 testtubes of water…full stop! After the dilutons, the medicine is perserved with alcohol…and then dropped onto lactose or sucrose. FULL STOP.
The exception here is in mineral medicines which are not initially diluted in water but with sucrose or lactose in a 1:10 or 1:100 ratio. In any case, the amount of sucrose or lactose is very very minimal, no matter how you choose to fabricate your own ignorant math. FULL STOP
“Medicine”
Even if you repeated the word 1023 time, it still doesn’t become medicine :D.
@Dana Ullman
Oh dear … it appears that your brain at long last has come to a FULL STOP …
So 6C is NOT a 1:10^12 dilution? Which can’t possibly have any effects (unless it’s a hormone)?
Look, I understand that you water-shaking clowns desperately need to play down the fact that your nostrums are diluted to such ludicrous extents that they can’t possibly work. After all, homeopathy is all about lies, deception and creating misunderstanding about basic math and chemistry. And admittedly, dilutions like 6C, achieved with the help of (yes) half a dozen test tubes, sound perfectly reasonable to the unsuspecting layperson.
But anyone who then does the math immediately sees that the end result is not a ‘medicine’, but a dilution far below even the parts-per-billion range. And anyone with basic scientific knowledge will also notice that such a dilution inevitably contains far more impurities than traces of the original substance. As in:
– Original substance: 0.001 parts per billion (ppb)
– Impurities: up to 50 parts per billion of all sorts of molecules, including organic carbons (TOC), heavy metals, chlorides, nitrates, phosphates, sulfates, silicates, and gaseous components. And this is for double-distilled water (ddH2O).
So your stupid shaken water inevitably contains up to 50,000 times more random chemical substances than it does of the intended substance. And this is just 6C, assuming that your homeopathic nostrums are prepared correctly – which seems a pretty rare occurrence, as analysis shows that most homeopathic preparations contain way more than just 50 ppb in contaminants and adulterating substances.
Especially (but not exclusively) in India, homeopathic preparations were found to contain anything from lead and cadmium (often in toxic amounts) to real pharmaceuticals. Which of course also explains why those water-shaking clowns from India regularly observe their homeopathic dilutions having all sorts of effects. Not because ‘homeopathy works’, but because it is a fraudulent mess, with sloppy, unhygienic manufacturing practices and utterly incompetent ‘scientists’.
Anyway, this “1 kg of sugar in 1 km³ of water” is an absolutely correct comparison of how dilute 6C homeopathic preparations actually are – and it paints a far more truthful picture of the actual ratios than your vague reference to “six test tubes”.
I am living in Switzerland, could you tell one or two words about the situation in my country, as I know that the Swiss parliament isn’t particularly rationally minded.
there are many post on this blog about Switzerland, e.g.: https://edzardernst.com/2018/05/more-about-homeopathy-in-switzerland-globuli-only-cause-unnecessary-healthcare-costs/
This Ullman person appears to be so insensitive to his surroundings that someone might kick him in his “Hoden”* & he wouldn’t notice!
*Deutsch für “testicles.”
THIS is the low level of your communication skills. Don’t evaluate the many basic science studies that were published in high-quality scientific journal. Instead, you prefer to jerk out your testesterone. Thanx for embarrassing yourself.
Only one person is embarrassing himself since many years on this blog by talking b*llshit over and over again. Guess who this person is? It is you, the plastic shaman DUllman.
6c remedies are too concentrated for me. I prefer 200c remedies diluted 10^ 400. That may be diluted to the order of 1 particles per 320 univereses. In a 6c pill there could be a billion molecules of stock present. Anyway I would consent to this as I am informed that a billion is a large number with a lot of zeros. What concerns me is that this 6c pill might also contain a million Plutonium molecules with background contamination in shaken water used to make the 6c likely to be 10^-15. I do not consent to this in my informed opinion.