Herbal Medicines (THR)

Some plants contain beneficial substances that can help to relieve the symptoms of some common medical conditions. Products made from extracts of these plants (which may include roots, leaves, stems, flowers and/or fruit) are known as herbal medicines. Their medicinal effects are based on traditional use only.

A herbal medicine registered under the Traditional Herbal Registration Scheme can make medicinal claims based on evidence of traditional use. This means the safety of the herbal medicine has been documented over at least 30 years of long-standing use for its particular indication. Fifteen of these 30 years medicinal use must be with the European Union. Of course, many of the new traditional herbal medicines have evidence of hundreds of years of use.

The legislation was needed because many herbal products on the UK market were not subject to independent quality and safety checks. Their quality was unknown, and there was no guarantee that they contained the ingredients claimed, and nothing else. The new Traditional Herbal Registration Scheme provides reassurance to consumers and healthcare professionals that products assessed by the MHRA meet the required standard of safety and quality. The legislation also provides access to reliable patient information. The THR number on product packaging shows that a product has met the MHRA’s agreed level of safety and quality, and the on-pack consumer information is MHRA approved. It is worth noting that any herbal product that isn’t classed as a food and doesn’t show the THR logo is either being sold illegally or is ‘end of line’ stock.

The dossiers of evidence used to support the registration and safety of each traditional herbal medicines cost a lot of money to produce. In addition, each batch of herb is tested for authentication and purity to ensure the herb meets acceptable, reproducible standards. This significantly increases the cost of manufacture so the final product is more expensive to produce than previous, non-licensed herbal remedies you may have used.