Overview on “Regulations of herbal medicine”

Abstract

Herbal medicines are an important component for alternative medicine. Now a day's herbal medicine is becoming ever more popular in world. Herbal medicines are widely used for treatment of human diseases in various systems of medicines like Ayurvedic, Homeopathic, Sidha, Unani and other regional systems of medicines. Herbal drug products vary from country to country, including functional foods, dietary supplements and traditional medicines. A detailed literature survey for regulations of herbal drug products in Europe and India was performed to identify recently introduced changes in regulations as well as newly introduced regulations compliance with the regulatory bodies. Various committees for Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC), Committee of European Medicines Agency (EMA) is developing guidelines for quality, nonclinical studies, clinical efficacy and safety. Drugs and Cosmetics Rules have been amended recently to control the quality, safety and efficacy of herbal drug products in India.