Is feverfew a pharmacologic agent?
CMAJ 1999;160:22
In response to: H.C.G. Wong
Dr. Wong suggests that feverfew should be regarded as pharmacologic therapy. However, we included this agent in our discussion of nonpharmacologic management of migraine for 3 reasons.
First, as Wong points out, some preparations of feverfew do not contain any of the active ingredient. Second, for preparations that do contain the active ingredient, the concentration is unknown. Thus, it seems inappropriate to dignify such products by calling them pharmacologic agents. Finally, many of the agents used to treat medical conditions, including vitamins and foodstuffs, as well as the manipulation of diet to avoid certain foods, might be considered to alter a person's ingestion of chemicals, whether they be called pharmaceuticals or not.
For these reasons, and because we prefer to regard pharmacology as the scientific study of compounds used in medicinal treatment, we included feverfew in the paper concerning nonpharmacologic management of migraines.
William Pryse-Phillips, MD
St. John's, Nfld.
Competing interests: Dr. Pryse-Phillips has received consultancy fees and honoraria for work related to the treatment of headache.
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