Herbal medicines will need to be registered with drug regulator to be sold in UK

doi:10.1136/bmj.d1733

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Oona Mashta

¹London

Herbal medicines will have to be licensed by the United Kingdom’s agency for registering medicine and medical devices from the end of next month to be on sale legally.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has introduced the new scheme, traditional herbal registration, which will come into force on 30 April, in a bid to improve the safety of patients. However, the scheme does not deal with herbal medicines’ effectiveness.

Retailers will be allowed to sell existing stock after the deadline, but it will be illegal for them to buy new stock that has been licensed after that time. To comply with the new regulations companies will have to have shown that they have met safety, quality, and …