24/06/2026
“New Homeopathic Medicines” proposal: a database made available in three free-access bilingual digital books
Marcus Zulian Teixeira
Volume I
Scientific basis of the principle of similitude in modern pharmacology - Marcus Zulian Teixeira
https://docs.bvsalud.org/biblioref/2022/09/1148205/scientific-basis-of-the-principle-of-similitude-in-modern-phar_lQy3bEk.pdf
Volume II
Homeopathic materia medica of modern drugs - Marcus Zulian Teixeira
https://docs.bvsalud.org/biblioref/2022/09/1148219/homeopathic-materia-medica-of-modern-drugs-volume-ii-2-ed-2021_ucmP5Fj.pdf
Volume III
Homeopathic repertory of modern drugs - Marcus Zulian Teixeira
https://docs.bvsalud.org/biblioref/2021/03/1147744/3homeopathic-repertory-of-modern-drugs-volume-iii-completo-1-ed-2010.pdf
“New Homeopathic Medicines” proposal: a database made available in three free-access bilingual digital books
Marcus Zulian Teixeira
Homeopathy, a Brazilian medical specialty since 1980, is
based on four assumptions, with several lines of research attesting its scientific validity:
(1) principle of therapeutic similitude,
(2) testing of medicines on healthy individuals (homeopathic pathogenetic trials),
(3) prescription of individualized medicines, and
(4) the use of serially diluted and agitated medicines (ultra-diluted and potentized doses). Although much relevance is attributed to ultra-diluted doses, the first two assumptions represent the proper foundation of the homeopathic epistemological model.
..In modern scientific terms, Hahnemann’s “primary action” corresponds to the “therapeutic, adverse, and side effects” of conventional drugs. In turn, the homeopathic “secondary action or vital reaction” corresponds to the “rebound effect” or “paradoxical reaction” of the body that follows discontinuation of countless categories of drugs that work in a manner opposed (palliative or antagonistic) to the symptoms of disease.
“Rebound effect” is defined as the production of increased
negative symptoms when the primary effect of a drug has
passed or the patient no longer responds to the drug; if a drug produces a rebound effect, the condition that was used to treat may come back even stronger when the drug is discontinued or lost its effectiveness. Analogously, “paradoxical reaction” is a response opposed to the foreseen effect of a drug.
Briefly, we might understand rebound effect as an automatic and instinctive manifestation of the homeostatic mechanisms aiming at reestablishing the original state, altered by the primary action of drugs, resulting in an opposed effect and contrary to the expected one.
The rebound effect appears following discontinuation
or withdrawal of drugs, causing manifestations with stronger intensity and/or more frequent than the ones originally suppressed (which distinguish it from relapse of the original disease following the end of the primary action of drugs).
These manifestations appear at variable intervals and also have variable duration. As a feature intrinsic to the phenomenon, one should consider a minimum interval of time to have a sound notion of the true magnitude of the phenomenon; this minimum interval corresponds to the full metabolism of drugs or the absence of therapeutic effect (biological half-life).
While discontinuation is a requisite for the rebound effect
to manifest – since the primary action continues as long as
receptors are bounded to the drug – some studies showed that it might also occur along the course of treatment, in cases of therapeutic failure or development of tolerance, tachyphylaxis, or receptor desensitization. In turn, drug tapering avoids abrupt discontinuation and thus minimizes the occurrence of the rebound effect.
Given the epistemological relevance of therapeutic similitude vis-à-vis the remainder of homeopathic assumptions, since 1998, following the Aristotelian deductive reasoning employed by Samuel Hahnemann to scientifically support the law of similars, we have been bridging the gap between homeopathic and conventional pharmacology through the systematic study of the rebound effect of modern drugs, scientifically confirming the homeopathic postulate (primary action of the drug followed by secondary and opposite reaction of the body) and the homeopathic healing principle.
Tables 2 and 3 list the examples with various categories of
drugs illustrating the universal nature of the rebound effect
and the principle of similitude.
These clinical and experimental pharmacological evidences show that the characteristics of the rebound effect are similar to the homeopathic secondary action or reaction (Organon of medicine, §59, 64, 69)2:
(1) it induces a body reaction opposed to and of greater
intensity compared to the primary action of drugs;
(2) it takes place after the end of the primary action of the
drug, and as automatic manifestation of the body;
(3) it does not depend on the type of drug, dose, treatment
duration, or category of symptoms (disease);
(4) its magnitude is proportional to the primary action of
the drug; and
(5) it appears in susceptible individuals only (idiosyncrasy).
Despite this idiosyncratic nature of the rebound effect –
which appears in a small proportion of individuals – scientific evidences point to the occurrence of severe and fatal events as a result of the paradoxical reaction of the body following discontinuation of different categories of drugs. This corroborates the magnitude of the phenomenon, the need to be duly known by health care providers, and the benefits of its therapeutic application according to the similitude principle.
“NEW HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES” PROPOSAL: USE OF
MODERN DRUGS ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF SIMILITUDE
The basic assumption underlying the homeopathic healing principle is the use of drugs that cause pathogenetic manifestations (signs, symptoms, and physiological or pathological effect) similar to the disorders to be cured. A similar use might be made of any type of drug (natural or synthetic) and in any dose (ponderable or ultra-diluted), provided the therapeutic similitude principle is observed. Thus, modern drugs might be used according to the homeopathic assumptions, provided they induce primary effects (therapeutic, adverse, or side effects) similar to the full set of characteristic signs and symptoms exhibited by patients.
Since 2003, we advocate the use of the rebound effect of
modern drugs with curative intent. For this purpose, patients are given drugs in ultra-diluted doses, which caused a similar set of adverse events aiming at stimulating the homeostatic reaction of the body against its own disorders.
To make this idea feasible, a Homeopathic Materia Medica
of Modern Drugs was prepared, in which all the primary or
pathogenetic effects (therapeutic, adverse, and side effects) of 1,250 modern drugs described in The United States Pharmacopeia Dispensing Information (USPDI)14 are organized according to an anatomical-functional distribution following the format of the traditional Homeopathic Materia Medica.
To facilitate the choice of the individualized medicine to
be prescribed, according to the full set of similar symptoms, a Homeopathic Repertory of Modern Drugs was prepared. Here, pathogenetic effects and the corresponding drugs are organized according to the format of the traditional homeopathic repertories, following the aforementioned anatomical-functional distribution.
The proposal entitled “New Homeopathic Medicines: use of modern drugs according to the principle of similitude” was described and systematized in a database composed of three distinct works:
(1) Scientific Basis of the Principle of Similitude in Modern
Pharmacology,
(2) Homeopathic Materia Medica of Modern Drugs, and
(3) Homeopathic Repertory of Modern Drugs.
“NEW HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINES” PROPOSAL: A DATABASE MADE AVAILABLE IN THREE FREE-ACCESS BILINGUAL DIGITAL BOOKS
In 2010, in order to allow everyone access to this proposal and its database, these three digital works, totaling thousands of pages, were freely available on a bilingual website (Portuguese and English) prepared on the Adobe Flash Player platform, enabling that this clinical protocol could be analyzed and used by all homeopaths.
Unfortunately, as of 2021, the Adobe Flash Player platform
was blocked without offering an alternative to it, preventing
colleagues from continuing to have access to that proposal and its database.
Offering an alternative to maintaining this proposal, we
have made available the three mentioned works in the format of free-access digital books (PDF), in Portuguese and English editions. These two editions of three books were indexed in the Virtual Health Library (PAHO, WHO, and BIREME) and are currently accessible to all interested parties:
Content of the Portuguese edition
• Fundamentação científica do princípio da similitude na farmacologia moderna;
• Matéria médica homeopática dos fármacos modernos;
• Repertório homeopático dos fármacos modernos.
Content of the English edition
• Scientific basis of the principle of similitude in modern pharmacology;
• Homeopathic materia medica of modern drugs;
• Homeopathic repertory of modern drugs.
CONCLUSIONS
To test this proposal, we recently developed a clinical research protocol for the use of potentized estrogen (17-β estradiol) for the treatment of endometriosis-associated pelvic pain, since estrogen causes endometrial hyperplasia or proliferation as adverse event. Reporting significant improvement versus placebo in relation to pain, depression, and quality of life, this study suggests the validity of this clinical and scientific proposal.
Nevertheless, for this method to be included in homeopathic standard practice, homeopaths need to unite around this project: physicians should apply it in clinical practice and describe the results (case reports), pharmacists should prepare the corresponding homeopathic potentized medicines, and the researchers should design clinical protocols.
