Pharmacovigilance of herbal medicines: Concerns and future prospects

The use of herbal medicines for prophylaxis, prevention, and treatment of various ailments is rising throughout the world because they are thought to be safer than allopathic treatments, which they are. However, several investigations have documented the toxicity and adverse drug reactions (ADR) of certain formulations and botanicals if not consumed wisely.

The goal of the current study is to address herbal medication pharmacovigilance (PV) modeling and related considerations for improved patient safety. Also, focus is laid on the comprehensive and critical analysis of the current state of PV for herbal medications at the national and international levels.

Targeted review also known as focused literature review methodology was utilized for exploring the data from various scientific platforms such as Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, Springer, PubMed, Google Scholar using "pharmacovigilance, herbal medicine, traditional medicine, ADR, under reporting, herb toxicity, herb interactions" as keywords along with standard literature pertaining to herbal medicines that is published by the WHO and other international and national organizations etc. The botanical names mentioned in the present article were authenticated using World Flora Online database.

The historical developments paving the way for PV in regulatory setup were also discussed, along with various criteria's for monitoring herbal medicine, ADR of herbs, phytoconstituents, and traditional medicines, herb-drug interactions, modes of reporting ADR, databases for reporting ADR's, provisions of PV in regulatory framework of different nations, challenges and way forward in PV are discussed in detail advocating a robust drug safety ecosystem for herbal medicines.

Despite recent efforts to encourage the reporting of suspected ADRs linked to herbal medicines, such as expanding the programme and adding community pharmacists and other healthcare professionals as recognized reporters, the number of herbal ADR reports received by the regulatory bodies remains comparatively low. Since users often do not seek professional advice or report if they have side effects, under-reporting, is anticipated to be significant for herbal medications. There are inadequate quality control methods, poor regulatory oversight considering herbs used in food and botanicals, and unregulated distribution channels. In addition, botanical identity, traceability of herbs, ecological concerns, over-the-counter (OTC) herbal medicines, patient-physicians barriers requires special focus by the regulatory bodies for improved global safety of herbal medicines.