Materia Medica Pura Project (MMPP)

Since T.F. Allen and Constantine Hering published their comprehensive works on the materia medica towards the end of the 19th century, there has been no further systematic review of the materia medica. Since then a large number of remedy provings, successfully treated cases, intoxication reports and clinical evidence have been published. However, these can only be found scattered throughout a vast amount of literature. Valuable information slumbers unused in old journals and books and is not readily available to homeopaths for their everyday practice. The main goal of the MMPP is to collate, catalogue and integrate this material into our materia medica and repertories in order to improve the reliability of prescriptions for all practicing homeopaths.

Under the initiative and leadership of André Saine, 50 colleagues have been working since 2005 in Europe and in North and South America on a comprehensive revision of the materia medica of 600 remedies. All the available sources of a remedy are looked through: provings, case studies, toxicological reports and clinical evidence. A monograph is then compiled for each remedy from this material, based on reliable sources. Newer information is only integrated provided that it is not purely speculative.

The work culminates in the presentation of the genius (a precise summary of the most characteristic features) of each remedy, as well as in the improvement of the repertory in the form of additions, changes in the grading of remedies, corrections of the wording of rubrics and the creation of new rubrics and sub-rubrics. The genius of a remedy allows the homeopath to quickly access the most essential characteristics of a remedy in order to compare it with the symptoms of the case being treated, thus greatly facilitating the differential materia medica.

The improvements of the repertory based on the Complete Repertory 4.5 and the revision of the materia medica based on reliable sources enhances our ability to find the most appropriate remedy for a case. Since 2021, these additions have also been integrated into the ‘Reliable Repertory’.

Provings, successfully treated cases, intoxications and clinical evidence published in the last 125 years have usually not or only unsystematically been incorporated into our materia medica and repertories. Many characteristic symptoms, even from the oldest sources such as Samuel Hahnemann’s Materia Medica Pura and Chronic Diseases and Allen’s Encyclopedia of Pure Materia Medica have not yet found their way into our repertories. For example, around 800 entries for Ipecacuanha, over 1,500 for Hepar sulphuris, over 1,500 for Nitricum acidum and over 3,000 for Plumbum met. have been added through this project.

On average, about 30% of the characteristic symptoms of our remedies are missing in the repertory. Of many remedies, only a fraction of their characteristic symptoms are contained in the repertories. Many remedies, even if they are clearly indicated, are probably not prescribed because they are simply not thought of, since they hardly ever appear in repertories and are difficult to find in the materia medica.

The MMPP aims to be accessible to all practising homeopaths. At present it is only available in English. The Materia Medica resulting from the MMPP will always be available in digital form only, as it will be continuously updated with new or newly discovered information. There are plans to update more than 600 remedy monographs and, in the long term, the integration of this data into a modern database. Furthermore, the participants in the project will frequently carry out provings or revisions of small, unproved or insufficiently proved remedies.

This project is a real milestone in the enhancement of our materia medica and repertories, the two main tools in homeopathy.