Quality Control & Standardization Of
Herbals
WHO Guidelines On cGMP For Herbal
Medicines
By
Kaushal Kumar

TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 02 03 04
Introduction WHO
Guidelines
General
Requirements
Explanation

WHO to provide technical support to develop a methodology to
monitor or ensure the quality, efficacy and safety of traditional
medicine and its products.
To promote and improve the quality of herbal medicines and
also to reduce the proportion of adverse effect caused by the
poor quality of herbal medicines.
The manufacturing process is one of the key steps where, quality
control is required to ensure quality of medicinal products
including herbal medicines.
cGMP is one of the most important tools for this measure.
INTRODUCTION

→ Quality assurance in the manufacture of herbal medicines
→ Sanitation and hygiene
→ Qualification & Validation → Complaints
→ Product Recalls → Contract Production & Analysis
→ Self-Inspection → Personnel
→ Training → Personal Hygiene
→ Premises → Storage areas
→ Production Areas → Equipment's
→ Material → Documentations
→ Good Practice in Productions
→ Good Practice in Quality Practice
WHO Guidelines On cGMP

→ Quality assurance in the manufacture of herbal medicines
The use of modern analytical techniques especially HPTLC, GC, HPLC, CE, MS And AA
are used to characterize herbal medicines.
Quality assurance also requires the control of starting materials, storage and processing.
For this reason, an appropriate quality assurance system should be applied in the
manufacture of herbal medicines.
→ Sanitation and hygiene
To avoid alterations and reduce contamination, a high level of sanitation and hygiene is
necessary during the manufacturing process. Water supply to the manufacturing unit
should be monitored and if necessary, treated appropriately to ensure consistency of
quality. Waste bins should be available, emptied, and cleaned at least daily.
WHO Guidelines On cGMP

→ Qualification & Validation
The written procedure should specify process steps and factors (such as extraction time,
temperature and solvent purity), acceptance criteria and the type of validation to be
conducted and the number of process runs.
→ Complaints
Product quality complaints may be caused by problems such as faulty manufacture, product
defects or deterioration of herbal medicines and adulteration of the herbal material. These
complaints should be recorded in detail and their causes by comparing with the reference
samples kept from the same batch.
WHO Guidelines On cGMP

→ Product Recalls
There should be a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the storage of recalled herbal
medicines in a secure isolated area, complying with the requirements specified.
→ Contract Production & Analysis
Contract should be drawn up by experienced people suitably knowledgeable on the specific
characteristics of herbal medicines including their production and quality control testing.
→ Self-Inspection
One member of the self-inspection should have a through knowledge of herbal medicines.
WHO Guidelines On cGMP

→ Personnel
All responsible staff should have their duties recorded in written descriptions and adequate
authority to carry out their responsibilities. Their duties may be given to designated deputies
of a satisfactory qualification level.
→ Training
The personnel should have adequate training in appropriate fields such as pharmaceutical
technology, taxonomic botany, phytochemistry, pharmacognosy, hygiene, microbiology and
related subjects.
→ Personal Hygiene
Personnel must be protected from contact with toxic irritants and allergenic plant materials
using suitable protective clothing. They should wear suitable gloves, caps, masks, work suits
and shoes throughout the whole procedure from plant processing to product manufacture.
WHO Guidelines On cGMP

→ Premises
The premises should be designed, located, constructed, adapted and maintained to suit the
operations to be carried out according to WHO guidelines.
→ Storage areas
The areas should be well labelled and materials stored in such a way as to avoid any risk of
cross-contamination. An area should be identified for the quarantine of all incoming herbal
materials. Different herbal materials should be stored in separate areas.
→ Production Areas
To facilitate cleaning and to avoid cross contamination, adequate precautions should be
taken during the sampling, weighing, mixing and processing of medicinal plants.
WHO Guidelines On cGMP

→ Equipment’s
Effective cleaning of the equipment is therefore necessary. Vacuum or wet-cleaning methods
are preferred. If wet-cleaning is done, the equipment should be dried immediately after
cleaning to prevent the growth of micro-organisms.
→ Material’s
All incoming herbal materials should be quarantined and stored under appropriate conditions.
Only permitted substances should be used for fumigation and allowable limits for their
residues together with specifications for the apparatus used should be set according to the
national regulations.
→ Documentations
→ Good Practice in Productions
→ Good Practice in Quality Practice
WHO Guidelines On cGMP

THANKS!
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