Harvey slams CM report
September 16, 2010
LA TROBE University’s Ken
Harvey has hit back at comments
made by the Australian Self-
Medication Industry’s Deon
Schoombie (PD Tue) over the report
into the cost effectiveness of
complementary medicines, saying
that the ASMI director “conveniently
skipped over” several points.
Addressing the report’s claim that
acupuncture as a complement to
standard care resulted in better
pain outcomes, Harvey pointed out
that the effect was only seen for a
short period, with “no statistically
significant benefit of
acupuncture...found when all
patients received standard care,
implying that the benefit observed
was probably a placebo effect.”
In rebuffing the report’s fish oil
claims Harvey said that although
the use of fish oil supplements was
shown to be a cost effective
cardiovascular mortality preventer
among people who had had a
heart attack within three months,,
“no evidence was presented as to
the cost-effectiveness of people
without CHD taking fish oil for
‘heart health’ in the hope of
preventing disease - where much
promotion and use occurs with no
good supportive data”.
Harvey also said the literature
review of osteoarthritis treatment
Phytolodor, was “relatively sparse”.
And finally when addressing the
potential healthcare saving of
using St John’s wort over standard
anti-depressants Harvey argued
that many products containing the
herb were not standardised or
assessed for clinical efficacy by the
TGA, with “variable” levels of
active components.
Harvey also said that the multiple
interactions between St John’s wort
and many other drugs highlight
the need for supervision of patients
using the supplement.
He concluded that while the
report notes says complementary
medicines could replace some
conventional drugs, “this potential
will only be realised if a higher
regulatory standard can be applied
to sparate out prodcuts that have
clinical evidence of effectiveness
from the rest”.
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