Inasmuch as the term alternative medicine can be misleading, we would rather not use it for now. For the purpose of discussion, the term complementary medicine will be used, as it means those therapies that, though different from mainstream biomedicine, can be used to complement it. There is a realization that Western medicine, whose forte is acute care, may not address other areas of concern. In recent decades there has been a surge of interest in more personalized care, participation, prevention, wellness and holism, translating into an exploration of various approaches to treatment and health promotion. That many therapies do not have patentable remedies has a great deal to do with it.
Profits drive pharmaceutical companies.
Difficulties in methodologies present further hurdles to proper research. Much of conventional medicine, to be sure, remains empirical and unproven scientifically. To label conventional medicine scientific and complementary medicine unscientific would be presumptuous and over simplistic. Much has been said about the possible dangers of unconventional therapies 6 . While we have to be cautious and skeptical, we should also recognize that Western medical treatments account for such a significant amount of iatrogenic disease with attendant morbidity and mortality, that all else pales in comparison.