Trend of registered herbal medicines products cancellation in Malaysia / Anati Idris

Background: There is an increased in use of traditional herbal medicine products around the world. While the use of herbal medicine products has increased, these products have never been tested in clinical trials nor is safety screening for poison content required for the products to be marketed.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the trend of herbal medicines products cancellation in Malaysia.
Method: Data for herbal medicine products cancellation from 2008 to 2013 was obtained from National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau (NPCB)'s website. Data for product claim indication were obtained at traditional and complementary medicine unit at NPCB office, Petaling Jaya. Descriptive analyses were carried out for all obtained data using Microsoft Excel software version 2010.
Result: A total of 46 herbal medicines products were cancelled from registration; 15 products in 2008, 8 products in 2009, 7 products in 2010, 8 products in 2011, 5 products in 2012 and 3 products in 2013. The majority of products that were cancelled claimed for general health (19/46), sex stimulants (6/46) and cough suppression (5/46). The most frequent illegal poison found in the cancelled product was phosphodiesterase inhibitor (19/51), followed by antidiabetic (7/51) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (7/51).