Post marketing surveillance of two St. Johnʹʹs wort and four liquorice products in Iranʹʹs market

With the tremendous expansion in the use of herbal medicine worldwide, safety and efficacy as well as quality control of herbal medicine have become important concerns for both health authority and public. In this paper, the analysis of two St. Johnʹs wort (Hypericum perforatum) products and four liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) products by spectrophotometric and HPLC methods, is explained. Moreover chromatographic fingerprinting was done by TLC scanner. Hypericin was chosen as the marker of St. Johnʹs wort products and 18 B-glycyrrhetinic acid was chosen as the marker for post marketing survey of four liquorice commercial formulations. The content of total hypericins that can be expressed as hypericin exist in the sample was 0.008% (mg/100mg) in product A/1 and 0.01% in product B/2. According to the analyses, the content of 18 B-glycyrrhetinic acid in the samples were between 0.002-0.05% (mg/100mg). It is suggested that manufacturers should commit to proper quality control procedures and ensure that label claims for content and dosage are accurate and realistic.