Prospects for medicinal herbs - Bad Request

Directive of 2 December 1994 sets out classification of medicines throughout the EU and applies thefollowing for herbal products:‣ Herbal medicines – those products that contain only plant and/or plant materials as activeingredients‣ Homeopathic medicines: homeopathic medicines in France are required to be registeredthrough the Medicines Agency before they can be marketed or distributed. Registration byreference is not allowed and resulted in some complaints from parallel importers to the EU,that it did not follow EU Law. In early 2000, the French government announced that it wouldmake parallel importation of medicines possible via the abridged procedure in the near future.The EU Food Supplement Directive, due to become law in 2005, aims at harmonising nutritionalsupplements across Europe, and comprises a list of 300 ingredients to be banned, as well assupplements which can be sold, and dosage limits.3.4.3 DistributionMedicine distribution remains under the control of the Directorate General for Health at the Ministryof Social Affairs and Health.The distribution of OTC products in France is largely dependant on pharmacies, accounting for over84% of value sales in 2003. This dominance also partly reflects the fact that semi-ethical medicines,representing the majority of OTC sales, are distributed exclusively through pharmacies. According toFrench legislation, most non-reimbursable products, including those bought without prescription,have to be requested from the pharmacist and are not freely available on a self-service basis. Therewere about 22,700 pharmacies in France in 2003.However, OTC products are increasingly becoming available in channels such as parapharmacies andgrocery outlets. Parapharmacies, which are often part of a chain, cannot sell prescribed medicines,even though they are often managed by qualified pharmacists. Sales through parapharmacies consistof non-medicinal products or those not requiring an AMM (Autorisation de Mise sur Marche) – anauthority regulating the marketing of pharmaceuticals. Similarly, grocery outlets can only sell alimited range of OTC products.Grocery outlets, supermarkets and hypermarkets have also been strengthening their position in theOTC market in recent years. These outlets are particularly strong in self-medicated products such ascough, cold and allergy remedies, vitamins and dietary supplements and wound treatments. Theseoutlets benefited from the fact that they offered similar products to pharmacies at lower prices,especially in vitamins and dietary supplements and wound treatments.Health food shops as a distribution point remains small in France accounting for only 0.6% of OTCsales in 2003. A typical product range stocked by health food stores includes vitamins, dietarysupplements, health and dietetic foods.36