ABSTRACT
Plants are widely used by pharmaceutical companies as raw materials for obtaining herbal medicines, besides being valuable biologically active prototypes for the development of synthetic and semi-synthetic new medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO), several international regulatory agencies and the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) have been emphasizing the importance of guaranteeing the quality of the plant material, using modern and adequate techniques of analysis and suitable standards. A comprehensive and integrated point of view is presented to understand the main physico-chemical tests for assessing the quality of plant raw materials, intermediate products (for example, essential oils and extracts) and phytomedicines in Brazil. Establishing regulations procedures and monographs, both in Brazil and worldwide, is essential to ensure quality of phytomedicines in Brazil.
