Medication: what you need to know


Before a product can legally be called a medicine, it must undergo a series of controls and meet strict standards. Clinical validation is mandatory to prove therapeutic effects and highlight adverse effects. A complete pharmacological, toxicological and analytical dossier must be submitted to the Inspectorate, which may or may not approve the sale of the product. Medicines also continue to undergo controls and analyses while on the market. 

Contrary to popular belief, there are herbal medicines.

Medicines can only be sold in pharmacy. But pharmacists don't just sell medicines - there are no legal restrictions in this respect.


Many other products resemble medicines and are sometimes sold in pharmacies, but cannot be called medicines. Their legal name is "dietary supplements". Compared to medicines, they are subject to an extremely limited number of analyses and checks: they are not part of the pharmaceutical circuit, but of the foodstuffs circuit. So they don't have to prove any efficacy whatsoever!

Resto
updated on 4/25/24

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