Law No. 12.687 providing for the State policy to promote research and preparation of phytotherapeutic products.

This Law provides for the State policy to promote research and preparation of phyto-therapeutic products. The State will adopt a policy to encourage research and preparation of herbal medicinal products, with the aim of enabling the Health System (SUS) to use these herbal medicines in the treatment of specific illnesses. For the purposes of this Law, a herbal product means a medicine obtained and prepared from active plant raw materials, with therapeutic purposes. The policy comprises actions developed by the State directly or through a partnership programme with a municipality or intermunicipal health consortium. The State will be responsible for: promoting research aimed at identifying and classifying plants and analyzing their therapeutic qualities and developing processes for preparing herbal products; promoting the cultivation of medicinal plants; carrying out clinical trials and prepare these products; distribute herbal products; carry out quality control of herbal products, etc.