Homeopathy & abandoned scientific process

THE MACÍAS-CORTÉS 2015 STUDY

Nov 13, 2023

Individualized Homeopathic Treatment and Fluoxetine for Moderate to Severe Depression in Peri- and Postmenopausal Women (HOMDEP-MENOP Study). A Randomized, Double-Dummy, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.1

This rigorous gold-standard placebo-controlled trial conducted in a research hospital was inexplicably retracted five years' after its original publication - initial assessment of this study was carried out by an expert in psychiatry (depression research) with close to 35 years' experience in the field of mental health - raising serious concerns over abandonment of the scientific process. 2 3

Macías-Cortés found homeopathy an effective antidepressant for climacteric women and that homeopathy, but not fluoxetine, improved menopausal symptoms scored by Greene Climacteric Scale was retracted in 2020.4

The authors response to the retraction

‘‘We strenuously reject the PLOS ONE Editors’ decision to retract our work, given that all the issues they have raised would usually warrant critique in a systematic review at most, not retraction. Our team answered all points raised during post-publication discussions in extensive detail. In the interests of transparency, accuracy and fairness, the most relevant points are summarized below, so that an objective reader can make up their own mind about the rigour of our study and whether the PLOS ONE Editors’ decision to retract our work is justified:

Claim 1 – Insufficient reporting details provided to allow for replication of the treatment used and assessment of the clinical validity of treatment choices.

All additional details requested by the Editors were provided i.e. how consultations were conducted; how the choice of medicine for each patient was made according to their clinical indications; and how dosage (either 30C or 200C) was selected according to well-established homeopathic prescribing guidelines. We also clarified that all patients were prescribed 200C, except for five patients who received a 30C prescription at the end of the observation period.

Although we understand the Editors’ curiosity regarding these details, our published study provides sufficient detail for those trained in the specific prescribing technique used (‘Individualized Homeopathic Treatment’ - ‘Classical Homeopathy’) to replicate and validate the intervention given.’’5

The four claims were answered by Dr. Macías-Cortés in full.6

Dr. Alexander Tournier of the homeopathy research institute stated ‘‘Inexplicable retraction of a rigorous clinical trial showing homeopathy was effective for depression raises serious concerns over abandonment of the scientific process.

The Macías-Cortés 2015 study is a gold-standard placebo-controlled trial conducted in a research hospital which found both homeopathy and the anti-depressant fluoxetine to be effective treatments for women with menopausal depression. On 23 April 2020 the PLOS ONE editors took the shocking decision to retract this high quality article from their journal, five years after publication, despite failing to provide any valid reasons for their actions...’’7

‘‘In April 2020 PLoS ONE retracted an original clinical research article, published in 2015, in which we (the authors) demonstrated that individualized homeopathic treatment improves depression symptoms in climacteric women. The original assessment of this study was carried out by an expert in psychiatry (depression research) with close to 35 years' experience in the field of mental health…’’8

Dr. Michael Frass writes ‘As a professor of medicine at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, I fully agree to the comments of Dr. Cortes. It is unclear which reasons have led to retraction. There are no academic reasons to retract the paper. I encourage PLOS to reinstitute the paper in order to not loose the reputation the journal deserves.9

MACÍAS-CORTÉS ET AL., 2015. INDIVIDUALIZED HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT AND FLUOXETINE FOR MODERATE TO SEVERE DEPRESSION IN PERI- AND POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN (HOMDEP-MENOP STUDY): A RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-DUMMY, DOUBLE-BLIND, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED TRIAL. PLOS ONE. PMID: 25768800

. HOMEOPATHY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, 2023. THE HOMEOPATHY DEBATE; MACÍAS-CORTÉS 2015. WWW.HRI-RESEARCH.ORG/RESOURCES/HOMEOPATHY-THE-DEBATE/MACIAS-CORTES-2015/

MACÍAS-CORTÉS ET AL., 2020. INDIVIDUALIZED HOMEOPATHY FOR DEPRESSION IN CLIMACTERIC WOMEN: COMMENTS ON THE RETRACTION BY PLOS ONE. HOMEOPATHY. PMID: 32777857

Retraction: Individualized Homeopathic Treatment and Fluoxetine for Moderate to Severe Depression in Peri- and Postmenopausal Women (HOMDEP-MENOP Study): A Randomized, Double-Dummy, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. The PLOS ONE Editors (2020) Retraction: Individualized Homeopathic Treatment and Fluoxetine for Moderate to Severe Depression in Peri- and Postmenopausal Women (HOMDEP-MENOP Study): A Randomized, Double-Dummy, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. PLOS ONE 15(4): e0232415. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232415

Macías-Cortés et al., 2020. Individualized Homeopathy for Depression in Climacteric Women: Comments on the Retraction by PLoS ONE. Homeopathy. 2020 Nov;109(4):267-270. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32777857/

COMMENTS on Retraction: Individualized Homeopathic Treatment and Fluoxetine for Moderate to Severe Depression in Peri- and Postmenopausal Women (HOMDEP-MENOP Study): A Randomized, Double-Dummy, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. The PLOS ONE Editors (2020) Retraction: Individualized Homeopathic Treatment and Fluoxetine for Moderate to Severe Depression in Peri- and Postmenopausal Women (HOMDEP-MENOP Study): A Randomized, Double-Dummy, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. PLOS ONE 15(4): e0232415. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/comment?id=10.1371/annotation/82077eec-9edb-403b-9b02-4d5d77d6dbae

https://www.hri-research.org/resources/homeopathy-the-debate/macias-cortes-2015/

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