Herbal, Unani and Ayurvedic medicines in Pakistan: DRAP rules

Herbal, Unani, Ayurvedic and Chinese traditional products are 'alternative medicines' under Pakistani law, and DRAP's Health and OTC Division enlists the companies and products before they can be sold.

191 companies in our directory hold a DRAP enlistment that includes herbal, Unani or Ayurvedic sections. See them in the directory.

What counts

The DRAP Act 2012 defines alternative medicine as a product used only in Homeopathic, Unani, Ayurvedic, Biochemic, Chinese or other traditional systems of treatment, and counts alternative medicine as a 'therapeutic good', in the same family as drugs, medical devices and biologicals^[1]. The 2014 Enlistment Rules go into more detail. Unani (also called indigenous) medicine is a product described in the authoritative books of Tibb-e-Unani, or a substance DRAP names in the Gazette. Herbal medicinal products are products whose active ingredients are only herbal substances or herbal preparations. Imported Chinese, Ayurvedic, Siddha and other herbal products are covered as 'imported medicinal products' that have been evaluated by a regulator. Alternative medicines are made from plant, animal or mineral ingredients, not from chemically defined synthetic ingredients^[2]. DRAP's own product page says these are non-prescription products and are not a substitute for medicines prescribed by a doctor^[5].

What the DRAP rules say

Under the DRAP Act 2012, alternative medicine is a therapeutic good, so DRAP regulates it; the Act gives the Division of Health and OTC Products (non-drugs) the job of assessing, licensing and registering alternative medicines such as Ayurvedic, Chinese and Unani products^[1]
Under the 2014 Enlistment Rules, a manufacturer or contract giver applies on Form 1 and an importer on Form 2; a local product applies on Form 3 (general health, traditional use or nutritional claims) or Form 4 (disease-reduction or therapeutic claims), and new or imported products on Form 5^[2]
DRAP issues a 'provisional' certificate of enlistment: Form 6 for the manufacturer or importer and Form 7 for each product; the Rules call enlistment an interim arrangement that gives no right to manufacture or import forever^[2]
Therapeutic or disease-reduction claims need full evidence of quality, safety and efficacy, and the Form 7 certificate says a label claim for prohibited diseases must not be made in any case; the Rules themselves do not print that list of diseases^[2]
The Rules do not require a fixed phrase such as 'Herbal medicine' or 'Unani medicine' on the pack; they do require preservatives, sweeteners and colours to be stated on the label, the approved conditions of use to be part of the label, and a product not labelled in the prescribed manner counts as misbranded^[2]
Selling adulterated, misbranded, spurious, counterfeit or substandard alternative medicine is banned and is an offence punishable under the Schedules of the DRAP Act; no advertisement is allowed without DRAP's prior approval^[2]
The Therapeutic Goods (Advertisement) Rules 2025 require prior written permission of the Advertisement Board for any advertisement of a therapeutic good and ban public advertising of treatment for diseases in Schedule-C, which includes cancer, diabetes, heart disease, infectious diseases and kidney, nerve and eye diseases; since the Act counts alternative medicine as a therapeutic good, these rules appear to cover herbal and Unani products too^[3]^[1]

Who regulates it

DRAP's Division of Health and OTC Products regulates herbal, Unani, Ayurvedic and Chinese products and their makers and importers, while Unani and Ayurvedic practitioners are registered separately by the National Council for Tibb^[1]^[5]^[11].

What companies should do

Get DRAP approval of the building layout plan for the alternative-medicine section, with HVAC drawings where needed and personnel and material flow diagrams; separate guidance applies if you process crude herbs^[4]
Apply for enlistment as a manufacturer or contract giver on Form 1, or as an importer on Form 2, addressed to the Director of the Health and OTC Division, with the fee^[2]^[4]
After you hold the Form 6 certificate, apply to enlist each product on Form 3, 4 or 5, depending on the type of claim and whether it is imported; DRAP publishes first-in-first-out lists of pending herbal applications^[2]^[8]
Keep batch records for at least one year after the product's expiry, and be ready to recall a product within 15 days of a DRAP notice^[2]
Get Advertisement Board approval before any public advertisement, keep claims the same as those approved at enlistment, and never advertise treatment for a Schedule-C disease to the public^[3]
Watch for DRAP's new licensing and registration system, which news reports say will replace enlistment for herbal products^[9]

Pharmacies, buyers and the public

Ask whether the product is enlisted with DRAP and check that the pack shows the maker's name, address and batch number; products with no maker or batch details cannot be traced or checked^[10]^[2]
DRAP says these products are not a replacement for medicines your doctor prescribes, so do not stop or cut down a prescribed medicine to take a herbal or Unani product^[5]
Tell your doctor and pharmacist about every herbal, Unani or Ayurvedic product you take, because some products have been found to contain hidden prescription drugs that can react with other medicines^[10]
Be very careful with any product or advert that claims to cure diabetes, cancer, heart, kidney or other serious diseases; public adverts for treating these diseases are banned^[3]
Pharmacies should stop selling and quarantine any product named in a drug-control alert and report stock to the Drug Inspector, as Punjab directed in July 2026^[10]

Recent warnings

14 July 2026: The Directorate of Drugs Control Punjab warned against several unregistered herbal and traditional products sold online, after the Drug Testing Laboratory Punjab found undeclared sildenafil in them and no maker or batch details on the packs; sellers were told to stop sale and quarantine stock^[10]
14 February 2023: DRAP's Enlistment Evaluation Committee cancelled the Form 6 and Form 7 enlistment certificates of two alternative-medicine manufacturers, and all their product enlistments, for not meeting minimum manufacturing requirements^[6]
30 April 2024: DRAP revoked a Karachi alternative-medicine maker's enlistment certificate for its old site and said manufacturing there is a prohibited and punishable offence under Rule 11 of S.R.O. 412(I)/2014^[7]

Still unclear: The 2014 Rules do not print the list of 'prohibited diseases' for label claims, and they do not set a fixed label wording such as 'Herbal medicine' or a label language. The Advertisement Rules 2025 do not name herbal or Unani products directly; they apply through the Act's definition of therapeutic goods. The exact S.R.O. number of the 2025 Advertisement Rules could not be read clearly from DRAP's scanned copy. A news report (28 August 2026) says new rules to replace enlistment with licensing and registration were in final approval; we could not confirm whether they have been notified. We found no reliable national figure for how many people in Pakistan use herbal or Unani medicine; one 2021 study says traditional medicine is popular because it is affordable and easy to get, and that people in remote areas rely on it heavily^[12].

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Sources

Prepared by the MedInfoBase team of pharmacists, physicians and academics. Last checked 16 October 2026. This page explains public DRAP documents and official notices in plain English; it is not legal or medical advice. It does not say that any product works.