The NHMRC has released a much-disputed first draft of a review of homeopathy effectiveness that has been kept under wraps since 2012.
The unfinished report was conducted by an expert review committee from the University of South Australia under contract to the NHMRC but was not published, being superseded by a second 2015 review that concluded that “…there are no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective”.
However the so-called ‘second’ report was strongly disputed by advocates of homeopathy and companies marketing alternative therapies, who claimed that the ‘first report’ had been suppressed because it had more positive conclusions about the evidence for homeopathy efficacy.
Homeopathy advocates mounted a long running campaign to have the first report released, saying it would vindicate their claims that there was some evidence of efficacy for homeopathy.
The executive summary of ‘first report’ concluded that the overall strength of evidence for homeopathy was “poor to moderate” but there was ‘encouraging evidence’ (‘Grade C’) for homeopathy in fibromylagia, otitis media, post-operative ileus, upper respiratory tract infections in adults and side effects of cancer treatment.
In a letter released on 20 August, the CEO of the NHMRC Professor Anne Kelso said she was releasing the draft ‘first report’ in its entirety to set the record straight.
“I am … aware and concerned that a significant amount of misinformation has built up about the content of this 2012 draft report. I am releasing the report now in an annotated form to address this misinformation,” she wrote.
The unfinished report includes annotated comments and critiques by reviewers of the first draft, to give context and clear up misunderstandings, she said.