Making top-quality complementary medicines in Australia is a job well worth doing, it seems. The growth in this sector has been very solid for a long time now. Herbal medicine manufacturers in rare health? Sure are. The Australian Complementary Medicines Australia (CMA) audit for 2018 makes rosy reading for those at the right end of the mortar and pestle. Vitamin and dietary supplements sales have doubled over the last decade. The industry as a whole is now worth some $4.9 billion. There are 29, 100 people in paid jobs within this sector. There are 8.1 million regular consumers of these products in Australia.
Complementary Medicines Booming Down Under
The fastest growing supplement ingredients in the natural health sector are: Probiotics with a 10.2% growth figure; Propolis with 9.6%, Calcium 9.1%; Chlorophyll 7.4%; and Cranberry 6.9%. The industry is strongly export focused and is exporting to more than 30 nations globally. It is our research and development capabilities, which are most impressive, however. Several university-based institutions are leading the way into medical research and natural remedies. Greater regulatory alignment with agencies like the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is contributing to better outcomes for exporters and importers of complementary medicines in this country. Herbal medicine manufacturers are in rare health in this country.
Stringent Labelling Important
Check out this online example of an important article highlighting the differences between extracts and whole herbs in the manufacture of quality herbal medicines. The importance of stringent labelling on products is emphasised through this illustration. Consumers are becoming more aware of the relationships between ingredients and manufacturing, when evaluating natural health supplements. CAM estimates that 2 out of every 3 Australians utilises complementary medicines in their healthcare. It is only natural that the market will become more sophisticated in their awareness of manufacturing procedures and standards.
Overcoming Unreasonable Resistance
There remains within society, and within the allopathic medical establishment, a committed core of anti-alternative health proselytisers. These people see it as their duty to disparage all complementary medicines and practitioners whenever possible. The fiscal relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the scientific medical establishment is substantial. Big Pharma funds much of their research and expensive dinners for doctors and their organisations. The natural health sector has had to overcome the ingrained resistance from this sector. Quite simply, they do not want to share the healthcare market with anyone else. Fear campaigns are constantly being run in the media, which fly in the face of a reality where hundreds more die from wrongly prescribed medicines than the occasional one person from a natural remedy.
