How to Check a Herbal, Homeopathic or Unani Product Is Enlisted With DRAP in Pakistan

Walk down any bazaar and you will see jars of herbal powders, honey mixtures, "natural" capsules and tonics promising to fix the sugar, the joints or the skin. Some are made by proper firms. Some are made in a back room. DRAP, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, has a system for the first kind, set out on its alternative medicine pages. This guide explains that system and what DRAP's own lists show. It is not medical advice.

DRAP calls these products alternative medicines and health products

The category covers indigenous or Unani medicine, homeopathic medicines, herbal preparations and substances, herbal proprietary medicines, and phyto-medicines. DRAP says they come from plant, animal or mineral ingredients and contain no chemically defined synthetic ingredients. Health products cover food supplements, nutritional products and dietetic foods for infants.

DRAP also states they are not an alternative to the drugs a doctor prescribes. That line is worth keeping in mind before stopping any prescribed medicine. Speak to your doctor first.

These products are enlisted under 2014 rules, which is different from registration

The page describes enlistment only. Local manufacturers and importers must be enlisted, and so must their products, under the Alternative Medicines and Health Products (Enlistment) Rules, 2014. The page does not explain how enlistment differs from the registration given to pharmaceutical drugs.

Pharmaceutical medicines have a separate public list; see how to check whether a medicine is registered with DRAP. Do not assume a herbal product will show up there.

A manufacturer goes through three checks before a product is enlisted

For a local manufacturer, DRAP lists three phases: site verification of the premises, approval of the layout plan, and final inspection of the manufacturing and testing facilities, which leads to a provisional enlistment certificate on Form-6. Importers apply on Form-2.

Products are then submitted on their own forms, each with documents and a processing fee. After enlistment, DRAP says its inspectorate checks local manufacturers for good manufacturing practice from time to time. The page does not say what an enlistment number looks like or what must be printed on the label, so we do not claim either.

DRAP's public lists show applications, so read them carefully

DRAP's Alternative Medicines updates page carries lists for herbal, homeopathic and nutraceutical products. The most recent we saw were dated 13 June 2025, 16 January 2025 and 18 December 2024. DRAP describes them as lists of provisional applications received, in first-come-first-served order, with a disclaimer about possible errors.

On 8 November 2026 we downloaded the three 2025 spreadsheets from that page and counted the rows. Each sheet has the same columns: serial number, company, product, dosage form, date of application, category and remarks. They cover applications filed from January to the end of May 2025.

Three points matter for a buyer. First, most rows have a blank remarks column, which means the application was still in the queue when the list was posted. Second, "disposed off" means the Enlistment Evaluation Committee (EEC) took a decision. The sheet does not say whether that decision was yes or no. Third, the product name in the sheet is the name the company proposed. So finding a product in these sheets is a starting point, not proof of enlistment.

DRAP's page also shows that enlistment can be withdrawn. In February 2023 the EEC cancelled the provisional certificates of two manufacturers, and every product certificate issued in their names, for failing minimum manufacturing requirements. In a later notice the EEC revoked an enlistment certificate when a Karachi firm moved production to a new site, and said products could no longer be made at the old address. An old certificate number on a pack is no guarantee the factory is still approved. Ask DRAP, not the seller, whether a given product is fully enlisted.

1. Read the pack for the company name, address and any enlistment details printed on it.
2. Ask the shop for the manufacturer's full name, not only the brand.
3. Open DRAP's Alternative Medicines updates page, download the latest herbal, homeopathic or nutraceutical sheet, and search it for the company and product name.
4. Call DRAP on 0800-03727, weekdays from 8 am to 4 pm, to confirm the status.
5. If a product caused harm, report it using the steps in reporting a medicine side effect to DRAP.

Herbal products are not the only place fakes turn up. If you or a relative takes prescribed medicine for a serious illness, our guide on checking a cancer medicine against DRAP's fake medicine alerts shows how to match a batch number to an alert. For injections bought at a clinic or pharmacy, see checking dexamethasone, ketorolac and paracetamol injections against DRAP recall alert 35.

Supplements, probiotics and disinfectants have their own notification

In October 2026 DRAP posted a notification of health and OTC products as therapeutic goods. We covered what it does for probiotics, disinfectants and food supplements. Check the pack label rules too, set out in checking a medicine pack label against DRAP's rules.

If something you bought looks unsafe or makes a claim that sounds like a cure, DRAP also takes reports of illegal advertising, which our page on reporting an illegal medicine advertisement explains.

Common questions

Are herbal medicines registered with DRAP?

They are enlisted, not registered. DRAP's page describes enlistment under the 2014 rules.

Does a DRAP list prove my herbal product is approved?

Not necessarily. DRAP describes several of its published lists as provisional applications, so confirm the status with DRAP.

Are food supplements covered?

Yes. DRAP's page puts food supplements, nutritional products and infant dietetic foods under health products.

Can a herbal product replace my prescribed tablets?

DRAP says these products are not an alternative to prescribed drugs. Ask your doctor before changing treatment.

What is the DRAP helpline?

0800-03727, open Monday to Friday from 8 am to 4 pm.

How many herbal products applied for enlistment in 2025?

DRAP's 2025 herbal sheet lists 945 applications filed from January to May 2025. Its nutraceutical sheet lists 4,581.

How we verified this

What we checked and where we read it.

Last checked 8 November 2026. We read DRAP's product categories page, its application process page, its Alternative Medicines updates page, the three 2025 FIFO spreadsheets linked there, and the DRAP home page for the helpline. DRAP's pages do not say how a buyer can verify a single product online or what an enlistment mark on a label looks like, so we do not describe one. The product form numbers on the process page were inconsistent, so we did not name them.