Steps to improve the quality evaluation of herbal medicinal products across Europe are likely to follow an international conference last week organised by the Council of Europe.
Participants from national and European licensing authorities, national pharmacopoeial secretariats, professional asso- ciations, academia and herbal products manufacturers spent two days looking at the contribution of the European Pharmacopoeia to quality evaluation.
The main ideas to emerge for future development include pursuing the elaboration of PhEur monographs on herbal drugs and extracts, improving the transparency of those monographs and adapting them, where necessary, to the needs of users, particularly to facilitate the evaluation of licensing dossiers and to avoid duplication of work.