On 6 March the European and international associations of anthroposophic doctors, pharmacists and manufacturers were invited by the Herbal Medicinal Products Committee (HMPC) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) to give an information session on anthroposophic medicine.

This was a four hour meeting. It was jointly chaired by Dr Ioanna Chinou, vice-chair of the HMPC and Nand De Herdt, secretary of the Association Européenne des Fabricants de Médicaments Utilises en Thérapeutique Anthroposophique (AEFMUTA). Seven speakers were present, representing the three associations invited - AEFMUTA, International Association of Anthroposophic Pharmacists (IAAP) and International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations (IVAA).

In his introduction, Nand De Herdt stressed the special character of the anthroposophic medical approach and its medicinal products. The starting material for all these products comes from natural substances from one of the three kingdoms of nature (plant, mineral, animal). Some anthroposophic medicinal products are manufactured in accordance with a homeopathic manufacturing process and are therefore covered by the legislation for homeopathic medicinal products. However a large number of anthroposophic medicinal products are based on starting materials which are different from the ones used in homeopathy and these are manufactured in a distinct way. The therapeutic principles of this specific European traditional medical approach are different from classical homeopathic or phytotherapeutic principles and understanding.

The speakers were medical doctors and pharmacists, most of them active as practitioners in general practices or in hospitals, one as a scientist in a research institute and one as a pharmacist active in production and quality control in an anthroposophic pharmaceutical company. They described the therapeutic principles for anthroposophic medicine, explained the importance of anthroposophic medicine in Europe and gave an outline of progress as regards research into anthroposophic medicine.

The members of the HMPC demonstrated their interest in the presentations through their questions at the end of each presentation and during the final discussion. These offered the speakers the opportunity to clarify their statement on anthroposophic pharmacy and anthroposophic medicine.

In her closing remarks Dr Ioanna Chinou thanked the speakers for their contributions and her colleagues of the HMPC for their interesting questions. She said that this was a new scientific area for her and she would like to explore it further. Nature is very important, she said, and if we can discover and study natural products which can be of benefit to medicine, then we should integrate them into the field of interest of European Union health policy. She expressed her interest in visiting one of the hospitals or a centre or institute where specific anthroposophic therapies are practised.

A report on the Information Session has been published on the EMEA website and can be downloaded (Ref. EMEA/HMPC/147565/08) at www.emea.europa.eu/htms/human/hmpc/hmpcinterestedpart.htm.