On 7 April 2009, the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) reported that a so-called 'herbal viagra' (Jia Yi Jian) that is sold in many traditional chinese medicine outlets, contains dangerous levels of the prescription drugs sibutramine and tadalafil. According to the MHRA press release; "There is continuing evidence that some so-called ‘herbal’ products on the UK and international markets are nothing of the kind."
"Everyone involved in the supply of herbal medicines needs to be aware that they are part of a complicated supply chain that may involve some individuals or companies that have little concern for the quality, safety or efficacy of their products and ingredients," argues Philip Payne of RSSL Pharma. "Everyone must do their utmost to protect legitimate supplies whether they are involved in specifying and sourcing ingredients, processing, distributing, marketing, or retailing the final product, because there are vulnerabilities at every stage."
RSSL Pharma is an independent laboratory that supports legitimate manufacturers through analysis of raw ingredients, and in providing data to accompany the dossiers needed for herbal medicines to comply with the requirements of the Traditional Herbal Medicines Registration Scheme. RSSL Pharma also runs training courses in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Good Distribution Practice (GDP), both seen by the regulatory authorities as essential for maintaining quality in the production and distribution of pharmaceutical and herbal products. GMP and GDP are also important in reducing the risk that counterfeits will enter the market.
"Pharmaceutical companies are already heavily regulated, and responsible producers of herbal medicines recognise that they have a duty of care in ensuring that their products contain exactly what is stated on the label, and that they don't contain any surprises of the kind revealed by analysis of Jia Yi Jian. With a properly constructed programme of analysis, legitimate manufacturers can protect themselves against receiving contaminated ingredients, and can protect patients from receiving potentially dangerous doses of some other drug or contaminant."