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SUMMARY:Homeopathy – science fact or science fiction? (at Cambridge Scie
 nce Festival) - Professor Jayne Lawrence\, King's College London
DTSTART:20150319T190000Z
DTEND:20150319T200000Z
UID:TALK58070@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:John O'Toole
DESCRIPTION:Professor Jayne Lawrence will describe the history of homeopat
 hy and the controversy that has grown since it began in the 1790's. She wi
 ll explore the scientific and medical evidence proposed by modern homeopat
 hs to support homeopathy\, and explore whether homeopathic practice has an
 ything to offer modern medicine.\n\nMany homeopaths trace the origins of h
 omeopathy to around 400 BC when Hippocrates attempted to treat mania by ad
 ministering a small dose of the mandrake root which\, in large doses\, was
  known to cause mania. Yet\, it was only in the late 1790s that the German
 \, Samuel Hahnemann\, proposed the idea of treating an illness with low do
 ses of a material that – in a healthy individual – would produce sympt
 oms similar to those of the disease being treated. Hahnemann coined the te
 rm homeopathy and the word first appeared in print in 1807. The practice o
 f homeopathy subsequently proved so popular that by the time Hahnemann die
 d in 1843\, he was a millionaire!\nDespite its popularity\, however\, home
 opathy was controversial even back in the early 1800s. An early clinical t
 rial\, performed in 1835\, under conditions approximating a double-blind\,
  randomized controlled study (similar to that used today) showed that as a
  method of treatment homeopathy was wholly ineffective.\nHomeopathy nevert
 heless continued to prove popular\, and to appreciate why this was so\, on
 e must remember that in the 18th Century\, Western medicine made great use
  of toe curling practices such as bloodletting and purging\, as well as ad
 ministering complex mixtures\, such as Venice treacle – a concoction of 
 64 substances including opium\, myrrh\, and viper flesh. Such treatments f
 requently worsened a patient’s symptoms\, sometimes proving fatal\, so i
 t is easy to see why homeopathy and its use of ultralow doses of the treat
 ment material became popular. But why is the practice still popular today?
 \nThe body of scientific knowledge which we now possess\, taken together w
 ith the findings from more modern clinical trials performed to assess the 
 efficacy of homeopathic materials only serve to support the conclusion rea
 ched in the first clinical trial\, that homeopathy is ineffective\, with n
 o effect beyond that of a placebo (i.e.\, no effect beyond that of a prepa
 ration containing no active drug). This talk will explore the scientific a
 nd medical evidence proposed by modern homeopaths to support homeopathy\, 
 and explore whether homeopathic practice has anything to offer modern medi
 cine.\n\nAbout the speaker\, Professor M Jayne Lawrence:\nJob Title: Chief
  Scientist\, Royal Pharmaceutical Society\, and Professor of Biophysical P
 harmaceutics\, King’s College London\n\nArea of Expertise:  Pharmaceutic
 al science\, particularly drug and gene delivery\n\nJayne is a pharmacist 
 who has spent the majority of her career working in academic pharmacy at K
 ing’s College London\, although she has also spent time working in commu
 nity\, hospital and industrial pharmacy. She currently holds a joint posit
 ion as Professor and Head of the Pharmaceutical Biophysics Group at King
 ’s College London and the Chief Scientist at the Royal Pharmaceutical So
 ciety. Jayne sits on a number of national and international committees rep
 resenting pharmacy science as well as governmental research grant awarding
  bodies. She regularly presents her research on drug and gene delivery at 
 national and international conferences.\n\nMedia Work: Jayne has commented
  on a number of pharmaceutical science issues in the press and through nat
 ional radio and TV\, including BBC Breakfast\, BBC News 24 and BBC radio.\
 n\nhttp://www.rsc.org\; http://www.soci.org
LOCATION:Pfizer Lecture Theatre\, Department of Chemistry\, Lensfield Road
 \, Cambridge
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