![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Fuflomicin
Dec. 14th, 2014 07:23 pmMy mother in law sent us a pack of Russian made medicines. Some of them are familiar and useful, and some items were new to me. One was especially recommended to us so we can treat viruses that cause common cold.
So I started research. First thing I did I read the manual carefully. According to it, the medicine is over the counter, does not have any severe side effects, and it effectively treats common cold, gastritis and hemorrhoid. (I am NOT kidding!) Then I googled the active ingredient, and found that in western pharma, it was only mentioned once, in a study to see if it helps to treat breast cancer (unsuccessfully). There is a wikipedia page, but only in Russian. Then I googled for any scientific articles in Russian, and found many. All of those were identical: we gave X0 patients this thing, and they felt better. WTF? Don't they do double blind studies in Russia? It was not the only medicine with this common Russian-science only trait that came in the parcel..
Or may be if there is no double blind experiments conducted but only simple ones, it can still be sort of evidence (though weaker) that that stuff can really help?
So I started research. First thing I did I read the manual carefully. According to it, the medicine is over the counter, does not have any severe side effects, and it effectively treats common cold, gastritis and hemorrhoid. (I am NOT kidding!) Then I googled the active ingredient, and found that in western pharma, it was only mentioned once, in a study to see if it helps to treat breast cancer (unsuccessfully). There is a wikipedia page, but only in Russian. Then I googled for any scientific articles in Russian, and found many. All of those were identical: we gave X0 patients this thing, and they felt better. WTF? Don't they do double blind studies in Russia? It was not the only medicine with this common Russian-science only trait that came in the parcel..
Or may be if there is no double blind experiments conducted but only simple ones, it can still be sort of evidence (though weaker) that that stuff can really help?
