A local pharmaceutical enterprise, Ernest Chemists Limited, is venturing into the area of herbal medicine with the launch of its first herbal product, Honeykof Herbal Cough Syrup.

The locally manufactured syrup is a non-drowsy herbal cough remedy made with honey and plant extracts of herbal origin such as ginger, basil, long pepper, violets and liquorice.

The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Ernest Bediako Sampong, said the new product was in line with the company’s commitment to providing a full range of quality medicine at affordable prices.

He said Ernest Chemists was also working on additional herbal products which would be released onto the market in due course.

“Of late, we have realised that there has been an increasing demand for herbal products, and as a pharmacist, I know that a lot of these medicines derived from plants have very high efficacy rates. So we decided to venture into this area in the interest of serving the needs of patients and customers,” he said.

The Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Corporate Services at the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Mrs Yvonne Nkrumah, commended Ernest Chemists for meeting all FDA regulatory requirements to secure approval.

She said samples of the product and documentation were subjected to rigorous test and examination at the FDA’s laboratory before approval.

“While congratulating Ernest Chemists for this venture, we also consider the achievement as a major stride in the development of the world-class herbal-based medicinal product in Ghana. We charge them to ensure that regulatory standards are maintained at all times,” she said.

The Executive Director of the Centre for Plant Medicine and Research, Dr Kofi Barimah, urged Ernest Chemist to continuously engage and collaborate with the centre to conduct more research that would lead to the manufacturing of quality herbal medicines.