Botanical clinical trials could be conducted by herbal experts -- FDA's Temple.
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
BOTANICAL TRIALS CONDUCTED BY HERBALISTS WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE TO FDA, Robert Temple, MD, director of FDA's Office of Drug Evaluation I, said at the Drug Information Association's annual meeting June 9-13 in San Diego. "We don't have a rule that people who carry out trials have to be...physicians," Temple said. Although there is "some obligation to make sure there's a medical person around to worry about risk," he added, "I don't see why someone with [an herbal] background couldn't carry out the trial."