The MHRA is aware that unlicensed herbal medicines are being promoted for the treatment of psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis and other skin conditions.
There are some suppliers who prey on the wish of consumers to use products that are seen as more 'natural' treatments. The MHRA regularly investigates cases where unlicensed 'herbal' creams are presented as '100% natural', 'safe with no side effects' and offering an effective alternative to prescription medication. Often these products are found to illegally contain corticosteroids (such as betamethasone dipropionate) or other undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients.
Strong corticosteroids are prescription only medicines for the treatment of a variety of inflammatory conditions, including skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. Careful medical supervision of these treatments is important as over-use and inappropriate long term use of corticosteroid medicines can cause skin thinning and other skin conditions.
Over the years, the MHRA has investigated a number of creams which have been supplied as over-the-counter products, mainly in traditional Chinese medicine outlets, independent supermarkets, beauty shops, the internet, and by herbal practitioners often in unlabelled containers.
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16 Sep 2010 | Warnings received from overseas medicines agencies
In recent months the Agency has received a number of alerts from overseas medicine regulators about herbal medicinal products which carry a public health risk. While there is no evidence that these products are available on the UK market, consumers are advised to be cautious.
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16 Mar 2009 | Unlicensed eczema creams found to contain steroids
An unlicensed eczema cream, supplied in an unlabelled plastic tub, has been found to contain betamethasone dipropionate.
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11 Dec 2007 | OSAS (Intensive Body Lotion with Aloe Vera) found to contain steroids
We have recently found that samples of OSAS (Intensive Body Lotion with Aloe Vera) have tested positive for variable amounts of Betamethasone dipropionate.
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27 May 2005 | Poisonings from Coleus forskohlii-containing products
We have received information from the Italian Regulatory Authority that certain products containing the herb Coleus forskohlii have been associated with four cases of acute poisoning following ingestion.
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31 Jan 2005 | Topical creams containing steroids
Since 2002, the Agency has investigated 17 suspected cases of illegal inclusion of corticosteroids in reportedly herbal topical creams; of these seven were found to contain steroids.
