19 February 2011

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) consulted the public on several aspects of their regulation of homeopathic products.

This consultation was prompted by the Government’s response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report ‘Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy. The public meetings that the Committee held can be viewed online:

Session 1

Session 2

The Committee's report contains a full transcript of these sessions, along with all written submissions.

In its response, the Government asked the MHRA to look at several issues raised by the Report and this resulted in the MHRA's consultation:

Review of Medicines Act 1968: Informal consultation on issues relating to the product licences of right (PLR) regime and homeopathy

There are several issues the MHRA are tackling with this consultation:

1. The complete abolition of PLRs for homeopathic products, proposed for April 2013.
2. The complete removal of all PLRs for Bach flower products.
3. The complete removal of all PLRs for anthroposophic products.
4. The abolition of the Non Orthodox Practitioner scheme.
5. The mandatory wording used on products licensed under the NRS

The consultation ended on 18 February 2011 and the Nightingale Collaboration submitted a response.

The summary of our recomendations is:

• To protect the public, homeopathic products should be properly defined.
• All PLRs should be revoked at the earliest opportunity.
• The normal fees for the transfer of PLRs to other licence categories should be charged to the manufacturers, saving the MHRA some £250,000 to £700,000.
• The warning labels on all homeopathic products should be revised so that the public have the information necessary to make fully informed choices.

To find out more, please read the full submission.