INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY & LIFE SCIENCES (Int. J. of Pharm. Life Sci.) A Review on Pharmacovigilance of Herbal Medicinal Products
Tuba Shaikh, Mukul Sharma, Abhishek Shah, Praveen Kumar Sharma, G. N. Darwhekar · 2014
Herbal drugs referred as plants materials or herbalism, involves the use of whole plants or parts of plants, to treat injuries or illnesses. Herbal medicines widely used in health-care in both developed and developing countries. Herbal formulations have reached extensive acceptability as therapeutic agents for several diseases. Standardization of methods and quality control data on safety and efficacy are required for understanding of the use of herbal drugs. Pharmacovigilance is the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects of drugs or any other possible drug-related problems. The aims of pharmacovigilance is to protect patients from unnecessary harm by identifying previously unrecognized drug hazards, elucidating pre-disposing factors and quantifying risk in relation to benefits. A drug is defined as being safe if it causes no known or potential harm to users. Safety is a fundamental principle in the provision of herbal medicines and herbal products for health care, and a critical component of quality control. A major factor impeding the development of the medicinal plant based industries in developing countries has been the lack of information on the social and economic benefits that could be derived from the industrial utilization of medicinal plants. With the increased use of herbal products, the future worldwide labeling practice should adequately address quality aspects.