In recent times the apparent upsurge in the popularity and use of herbal medicines can be related to the success in its use for the management of certain important diseases, experimental proof of efficacy and safety, enhanced dosage form design as well as better tolerance. In this study the quality of some herbal medicines sold in Nigeria has been evaluated for basic pharmaceutical quality and compliance to regulatory guidelines. Samples of sixteen frequently used herbal products were collected from Pharmacies and patent medicine stores and evaluated. The dosage form type, organoleptic properties, moisture content, weight/volume uniformity as well as compliance to regulatory guidelines were among the parameters evaluated. Sixty percent of the samples were liquids, thirty percent were oral bulk powders and ten percent were capsules. None of the products complied completely with the regulatory requirement stipulated while only ten percent of the products samples complied with the basic phyisico-chemical properties required for pharmaceutical quality. Thus, there is a strong need for the regulatory authorities to ensure more stringent quality surveillance and enforcement of guidelines to ensure that herbal medicines are of standard quality.
Key words: Herbal medicine, regulatory guidelines, pharmaceutical quality
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