Similasan what???

Okay, I thought Similasan was a little borderline marketing their drop for pink-eye, but now I think they’ve totally gone overboard. Introducing the first drop for cataracts: Similasan Cataract Care. Just to clarify, they market it as relieving the symptoms of cataracts. (However, the active ingredient Cineraria is “indicated for cataract and cloudy vision.” What? Explain that to me!)

I first saw this advertised to ECPs in the August 2005 issue of Optometric Management (pt 34). Similasan, instead of an ad similar to what you would use to market your product to patients, I’d like something tailored to us scientifically-oriented eye doctors. When they link to information for healtcare professionals, they only give me the party line, provide a link to information on homeopathy, and don’t site any studies. One could slap a label on a bottle, but it doesn’t mean that is what it actually does. I would like to have available some of the studies you conducted and reviewed to determine that the active ingredients in your product actually help with cataracts, or the symptoms thereof.

There’s a whole field of homeopathic medicines of which my education did not train me to understand. Apparently Cineraria has been around for a while from other eye drop makers (some even marketed to pet owners). I don’t know what to tell people. I could say,” sure try it out,” but if they spend the money and it doesn’t work, they could have just as well burned their hard-earned dollars or have given their cash to me!