FDA denies certifying five herbal medicines

The Centre for Plant Medicine Research has denied knowledge of five herbal medicines which the producer's claim have been certified by the Centre.

The affected herbal products, mostly aphrodisiacs, are ‘Prince herbal garlic capsules’, ‘Ak 47 super sex medicine’, ‘Superman herbal’, ‘Superstar capsule’, and ‘Sexy power bitters’.

According to the Executive Director of the Centre, Dr Augustine Ocloo, the Centre has not tested and certified the five products.

He said although the producers have embossed the logo and name of the Centre on the package of the products, “we have no knowledge about the products.”

In an interview with the Ghanaian Times, Dr Ocloo expressed worry over the abuse of the identity of the Centre by some herbal medicine producers to market their products, describing the practice as illegal.

The practice, he said, was not only criminal and deceitful but also harmful since it posed serious health implication for consumers.

“As a research centre, we do not have the mandate to give a permit to any herbal business to use our name and logo to market or sell their herbal product to the general public,” he stated.

According to him, the only body that is mandated to grant a permit to herbal products is the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).

“The fact that someone put our name and logo on their herbal products does not mean that such products have been thoroughly tested by the Centre and approved by the FDA,” he said, and therefore warned the public to be vigilant against such products.

Dr Ocloo explained that the mandate of the Centre is to conduct the thorough analysis on herbal medicine products and submit reports to the FDA, based on which permits could be granted.

He said it was misleading for herbal medicine producers to use the submission of their products for testing as proof of the efficacy of the products for marketing purposes.

“Even the fact that we have tested a product does not mean that we have approved it,” he said and urged the FDA to conduct post-market surveillance to ensure that every single herbal product was given the proper registration and permit.

He also advised consumers to look out for the FDA registration number on herbal product and not the name and logo of the Centre before making any purchase of herbal drugs on the market.