eprintid: 10205435 rev_number: 7 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/20/54/35 datestamp: 2025-02-28 11:17:27 lastmod: 2025-02-28 11:17:27 status_changed: 2025-02-28 11:17:27 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Jalil, Banaz creators_name: Heinrich, Michael title: Pharmaceutical quality of herbal medicinal products and dietary supplements – a case study with oral solid formulations containing Lavandula species ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C08 divisions: D10 divisions: G09 keywords: disintegration, herbal medicinal products, Lavandula, Oral dosage forms, pharmaceutical performance, soft gel capsules note: Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/). abstract: The effectiveness and safety of regulated herbal medicinal products and dietary/food supplements are key areas of research. However, limited evidence exists of their pharmaceutical performance quality (including the standard in the respective Pharmacopeial monographs). We evaluated the applicability of the European Pharmacopoeia general chapter protocols for disintegration testing of oral dosage forms using 73 products containing Lavandula species. Several Lavandula species, hybrids and cultivars are important medicinal plants globally in the phytopharmaceuticals and dietary/food supplement industry, including L. angustifolia Mill., traditionally used to treat conditions linked to nervousness and sleep disorders. We evaluate the pharmaceutical performance quality, particularly the in vitro disintegration and the phytochemical quality of 73 Lavandula oral dosage forms of single and multi-ingredients with different regulatory statuses. The phytochemical quality testing showed that 63% of products contain less or none of the main marker compounds (e.g., linalool, linalyl acetate, and cineole). There was also considerable variability of the main marker compounds between products, with some containing 'often/sometimes undeclared' and significant amounts of rapeseed and sunflower oils as excipients. The pharmaceutical performance quality testing showed that 30% of oral solid formulations always failed the disintegration testing (seven soft gels, ten hard shells, and five tablets/caplets). Pass rates for gelatine-based capsules were higher than for non-gelatine (cellulose-based) capsules. Overall, our findings highlighted problems with the pharmaceutical performance and phytochemical quality of the investigated products. These results have implications for the interpretations of the benefits and risks of phytopharmaceuticals used as compared to dietary/food supplements. date: 2025-05-01 date_type: published publisher: Elsevier BV official_url: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejps.2025.107042 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2364265 doi: 10.1016/j.ejps.2025.107042 medium: Print-Electronic pii: S0928-0987(25)00041-7 lyricists_name: Jalil, Banaz lyricists_id: BJALI32 actors_name: Booker, Anthony actors_name: Harris, Jean actors_id: AJBOO99 actors_id: JAHAR68 actors_role: owner actors_role: impersonator full_text_status: public publication: European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences volume: 208 article_number: 107042 event_location: Netherlands issn: 0928-0987 citation: Jalil, Banaz; Heinrich, Michael; (2025) Pharmaceutical quality of herbal medicinal products and dietary supplements – a case study with oral solid formulations containing Lavandula species. European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences , 208 , Article 107042. 10.1016/j.ejps.2025.107042 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejps.2025.107042>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10205435/1/1-s2.0-S0928098725000417-main.pdf