I am frequently asked by patients, "How do they make a remedy?" While I’m happy to answer this question, I wonder how often they ask their conventional physician about the chemical drugs they are prescribed. My point is public perception. Although both homeopathic and chemical-based conventional medicines are regulated by the same agency, the FDA, public concern for homeopathics are higher due to their unfamiliarity. The manufacturing of homeopathics is strictly regulated, as you will learn. For now, let’s make a remedy.

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann prepared the first homeopathic medicines in 1801. He found through his experiments that the process he called "potentizing," which involves continuous dilution or watering down of a substance, combined with vigorous shaking, helped solve two initial challenges.

The first was how to examine the properties and potential medical benefits of substances that are known to be poisonous, whether they are plants, minerals or animal venoms.

The second was how to extract the greatest number of accurate and clear symptoms from the proving process so that the homeopath could effectively prescribe the remedies to match the symptoms of the sick. Hahnemann and the homeopaths that followed him found that potentizing remedies was the solution. Potentizing, a term coined by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann in the early 1800s, combines several serial dilutions of an original substance with vigorous shaking known as succussion. The more a homeopathic remedy is diluted and shaken, the greater its healing strength or potential becomes.

The continuous dilution of a substance not only reduces toxicity so that any substance can now be proved, but also increases the healing properties of a homeopathic medicine. Hahnemann found this out by experimentation; practitioners over the years have echoed his findings. Scientific research has recently confirmed that a diluted and shaken or succussed solution is more electromagnetically active than the original solution.

The process of "potentization": One drop of original substance is diluted 99 drops of water. The vial is shaken (succussed) 10 times. Then one drop of that solution is diluted in another 99 drops of water, the resulting solution is shaken, and the process continues.

Homeopathic medicines are prepared from source substances derived from all three of nature’s kingdoms: vegetable, mineral, and animal. The standard process of "potentization" renders all original source materials non-toxic to the human system, while maintaining the curative properties of the original source substance.Source: European Council on Classical Homeopathy (ECCH).

The Process to Potentize and Package

Now that you’ve seen how important the potentizing process is in theory, let’s take a look at the whole process as we make a homeopathic remedy. It’s worth mentioning again that the manufacturers of homeopathic medicines follow the standards established by the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS) and the regulatory requirements of the FDA.

The first step in making a remedy is to select the purest raw materials, preferably the same substance from the same area the medicine was originally proved from. Homeopathic manufacturers must be careful to choose only the best chemical and pollution-free source of materials. The materials are shipped to the manufacturing facility, which in most cases is a state-of-the art lab, where cleanliness is extremely important.

We’ll be looking at Hahnemann Labs in San Rafael, California, for our tour of a homeopathic pharmacy. The staff looks prepped for surgery, complete with lab coats, hairnets, and shoe coverings. They are kept quite busy meeting and exceeding the strict manufacturing guidelines outlined by the FDA. All homeopathic processes are witnessed and recorded by at least two individuals, and meticulous records are kept of every substance from the time it enters their doors, as it’s going through the homeopathic process, to the exacting labeling, packaging, and delivery of the homeopathic medicine.

Preparation of Soluble and Insoluble Substances

According to Hahnemann Labs, the materials that cannot be dissolved in water or alcohol (insoluble) need to be ground up or triturated. This process may take many hours; traditionally it was done by a mortar and pestle.

Now Hahnemann Labs does this work with a mechanical device called a ball mill. This is a design similar to a rock polisher or tumbler. Materials are placed in a jar along with 99 times as much lactose as the original substance. Very hard cylinders are also put into the jar, which is placed on horizontal rollers. The cylinders continuously crunch the contents for hours until it becomes a fine powder that can be used to prepare liquid potencies.

Potentizing

Substances that will dissolve in water or materials that are now powders are ready to prep for liquid potencies. This process is highly regulated, as it’s the beginning of taking an herb or mineral and transforming it into a homeopathic medicine. First a dilution of one part original material to 99 parts liquid to create a [1/100] ratio is made, and then this mixture is succussed. According to Hahnemann Labs, succussion is the forceful pounding of the liquid dilution against a firm but resilient surface. Originally, homeopaths copied Samuel Hahnemann who used to succuss remedies by slamming them onto the surface of a book.

At Hahnemann Labs, whenever a substance goes through this process, it must be witnessed by another person to make sure each critical step has been done correctly. The first 15 potencies are always prepared in separate vials, which is the Hahnemannian method.

Originally homeopaths succussed dilutions by slamming the vials again a book. This could take a while, and tire you out. At Hahnemann Labs, Michael Quinn, its founder, invented the Quinn potentizers, which are mechanical devices that ensure that successions are performed with the same number of strokes and with the same force on each stroke. The engineers who built the equipment even measured Michael Quinn’s arm from elbow to closed hand to build a mechanical arm similar to the action of the founding homeopath’s time-honored techniques.

The Final Process: Drip-Drying

We’re so close to a homeopathic remedy, can you stand it! Each step has been carefully planned and documented. Cross-contamination has been avoided by rooms, which are supplied with HEPA-filtered air and vents, which constantly suck out air and vent it outside the building. The rooms are specialized so that no two processes take place in the same space.

Right now I’m taking you to the medicating room. Small lactose pellets become homeopathic medicines by adding the newly potentized solution we’ve been following to a container of pellets. The container is shaken to distribute the solution evenly on the pellets and is allowed to penetrate the pellets for a minimum of five minutes. This step is also observed by witnesses and documented by triplicate paperwork. The pellets are dried by placing them on a clean white paper filter in a drying chamber that is also industrially vented so that air continuously flows across the pellets and to the outside. Dried pellets are packaged in several sizes, again in a room where airflow is designed to pull clean air over the pellets ensuring clean and safe packaging.

Manufacturing Standards: The Secret to Safety

High standards are what we expect when we buy a product, especially medicine. As all medicinal standards have evolved, so have the guidelines for the production of homeopathic products. When I give a homeopathic medicine to a patient, there is always a brief moment when his trust is tested by the fear of taking an unknown substance made by an unknown process. The general perception is that these could be made in someone’s basement.

You now know how meticulously homeopathics are made, but you may be unaware of the standards they follow. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act adopted by Congress in 1906 and amended in 1938 gives the FDA the right to regulate drugs in the United States. Drugs are defined as those substances appearing in the official United States Pharmacopoeia, official National Formulary, or the official Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States. Homeopathic substances are recognized as official drugs by federal and most state governments.

The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 was primarily authored by Dr. Royal B. Copeland, a homeopathic physician who saw the value in homeopathic practices continuing in the United States.

The Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States is a compendium of substances used by homeopathic practitioners. It was originally published by the Pharmacopoeia Committee of the American Institute of homeopathy in 1887. The committee, now called the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia Revision Service (HPRS), currently meets three to six times per year to review new homeopathic remedies for inclusion into the official pharmacopoeia. This group is also responsible for setting guidelines for manufacturing and labeling of homeopathic remedies.