Quality control is an important tool in the production of safe and effective herbal remedies and health supplements.At Hersol Manufacturing Laboratories,quality is non-negotiable – from raw materials and ingredients, to production processes and packaging – all products made in its facility must comply.

Hersol Manufacturing Laboratories (Hersol) is one of South Africa’s leading contract manufacturers of pharmaceutical products. The company specialises in developing and producing complementary medicines (CAMs), nutritional supplements and pharmaceuticals. André Buhrlen, managing director of Hersol, strongly believes the company’s focus on quality is unparalleled in the industry. ‘We have developed a strategy to become the best contract manufacturer in terms of quality and service delivery,’ he explains.

This is because it’s the manufacturer’s responsibility to ensure the supplements it produces, be they liquid, tablet, capsule or powder format, are standardised, quality products that match the descriptions on their labels. As a result, Hersol has always followed careful, consistent manufacturing standards using different types of equipment to produce various dosage forms. The herbal medicines and CAMs products that Hersol manufactures are not only intended for the South African market, but many of the products are also exported into Africa. The company has noticed an increase in demand for herbal medicines in various African regions as more and more consumers choose to manage their health and wellbeing with dietary supplements. This creates new opportunities for compliant brands to thrive in the African market. Yet Buhrlen advises all herbal or alternative medicines, regardless of their positioning, must be validated as safe, quality and effective products that are produced in compliant facilities. For this reason, the same stringent methods of testing and quality control apply to all products produced within Hersol’s manufacturing facility.

Quality guaranteed
Micro and stability testing are valuable methods to confirm the safety and quality of a product. Hersol has its own in-house analytical facility that includes a microbiological laboratory. All assays and tests, necessary to ensure a product’s quality is of a high standard, are performed by qualified laboratory personnel. These employees are also responsible for quality control and quality assurance throughout Hersol. The microbiological laboratory is fitted with cleanrooms and a separate air handling system. This is in addition to the company’s second instrument room, which was added to the existing laboratory for analytical method development and validation, for the testing of raw materials and finished products.

Combining knowledge with experience
Hersol is proud of its years of manufacturing excellence. The history of the company demonstrates its ongoing commitment to its customers and the public, to produce products based on strict parameters of quality, safety and efficacy – now and into the future. The company’s team of pharmacists has extensive expertise in the changing regulations in South Africa and what will be required of CAMs and health supplements in the years to come. As a result, it can also guide African brand owners on how to meet quality and safety requirements, to offer consumers herbal remedies they can trust which are safe, effective, formulated with ingredients from reputable sources and manufactured in accordance with GMP. •