Homeopathy is Good Because It Is Not Big Business

Is Homeopathy Pure, or Is Homeopathy Big Business?

The profit motive in medicine fundamentally distorts all health care, determining everything from the kind of research that is done to the recommended treatments to the amount of time spent with a patient.....There is an essentially progressive and non-capitalist alternative form of medicine that can yield effective and deep healing. It is the brilliant and healthy science of Homeopathy

Well, too bad that is not true.

HOMEOPATHY TODAY Economic Realities of Homeopathy

Sales of homeopathic medicines represent more than a billion Euros worldwide, or approximately 0.5% of the entire pharmaceuticals market. (SNPH 2000)

Nearly 70% of this activity is in Europe, led by France and Germany, the countries from which homeopathy has expanded during the past century. (SNPH 2000)

France, at 230 million Euros, is the world's largest homeopathy market, followed by Germany, then by countries such as India, Brazil, Italy and the Netherlands.

And Boion and Dolisos want to merge, for economic reasons:

BOIRON and DOLISOS : Together for a Stronger Homeopathy

(Castres, Lyon, France - June 24, 2004) To pursue the promotion of French homeopathy constrained by its regulatory framework and to provide the company with the adequate resources for research and international development, Pierre FABRE and Christian BOIRON initiate the merger process of DOLISOS and BOIRON.

The price control enforced in France since 1988, the lowering of the reimbursement rate from 65 % to 35 % reduce the abilities of the two companies BOIRON and DOLISOS to meet individually the research investment efforts and the medical promotion of homeopathy.

BOIRON and DOLISOS have decided in accordance with the main shareholders of the two companies, the BOIRON family on the one hand, and the Pierre Fabre Group on the other hand, to consider the merger of the two companies. The new entity should develop its research and innovation efforts in sites well structured in Toulouse and Lyon (France).

An increase of capital of DOLISOS amounting to € 36 million will be carried out prior to the merger. Notwithstanding the confirmation of the to be designated Auditors for the merger, the merger parity should enable the current shareholders of BOIRON and DOLISOS (after recapitalization of DOLISOS) to hold respectively 84.85% and 15.15% of the capital share of the merged entity. Pierre Fabre company will hold a credit amounting € 25 million which will be refunded at the term of a three year delay.

Comments

[Tom Morris]

Surely, if it is "non-capitalist", then my local pharmacy won't mind if I walk in, take all their homeopathic treatments off the shelf and walk out with them. Okay, perhaps they would. I'll just stick with plain old capitalist medicine, the type I get free from the NHS. I never understand why people use SCAM in countries like Britain or Canada where the ineffective 'natural' stuff costs more than the treatment from proper doctors, since you don't have to pay for proper healthcare.