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Herbs In A Bottle at the NIMH Conference

Above: Emma and Katie on the Herbs In A Bottle stand at the annual conference of the National Insitute of Medical Herbalists.

At the AGM (held on Friday) Tony Carter was re-elected Treasurer of NIMH.

Talking about the conference Tony said:

"For the ordinary NIMH member the conference is great fun, but when you are on Council the four days are quite an intensive time with committee meetings, formal sessions and responding to questions that can be fired at you at any time. Not that I am complaining - serving on NIMH Council is a great honour, and I'm happy to do whatever it takes to keep the organisation moving forward. NIMH depends to a very large extent on volunteers acting together to get things done."

Herbs In A Bottle had a stand at the Conference that was managed by Emma Suddards:

"I worked with Katie Dobiesz running the stand. As we are both qualified medical herbalists we took it in turns to sit in on some of the talks on Saturday - I especially appreciated the case studies. It was good to network and nice to see so many customers face to face.

Prescription Service

Above: Katie Dobiesz.

The Prescription Service of Proline Botanicals has now completely rebranded under the Herbs In A Bottle identity.

Medical Herbalist Katie Dobiesz talks about the service:

"The new branding is wonderful. I think Herbs In A Bottle perfectly captures the spirit of what we are trying to do. The Prescription Service launched about six months ago and we have been building up a loyal following of practioners.

"The way it works is simple. Practitioners 'phone in their prescriptions, we make them up and send them out directly to the patients. The saving in time is considerable, which is especially important in many cases."

Herbs In A Bottle comes to life!

Above: Vincent (Marketing) and Sue (Dispensary) examine the new Herbs In A Bottle branding.

The launch of the new Herbs In A Bottle branding has been an exciting moment for herbal medicine.

Completely replacing the old Proline Botanicals trading name, Herbs In A Bottle has already had a terrific response from practitioners throughout the country. The sales office reported one of the busiest weeks of the year, despite the holiday period. This surge in orders is expected to continue as more practitioners take advantage of the celebratory 5% discount during September*. Emma in the Sales office said: "Everyone has been intrigued and interested in the rebranding, and one lady told us it was about time we updated our image!"

Commenting on the rebranding Tony Carter said: "For a long time I had been uncomfortable with the old Proline Botanicals branding. To be honest, we chose the Proline name years ago with hardly any thought, and always intended to rebrand when the time was right. But the success of the company took us by surprise and the right moment never seemed to come along. Now we have an opportunity to completely rebrand the company under the Herbs In A Bottle image. As a name Proline always seemed to have a clinical edge to it, and Herbs In A Bottle reflects more our personality - friendly, foward-looking and absolutely focussed on herbs.

Apart from the change in name practitioners should not notice any alterations in the production and delivery of their orders. The company retains the most stringent quality GMP processes, independently audited. The range of phytopharmaceutical products remains the widest available in the United Kingdom. Value for money continues, with Herbs In A Bottle prices in real terms among the lowest you will find anywhere.

* practitioners who place an order during September will receive a 5% discount - only one discount per practitioner.

We love herbs for their own sake

Above: Sue reading Bartram's Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine in her break.

When Sue Pearce joined Proline Botanicals as a Dispensary Assistant in February 2009 she little thought it would change her life. Now eighteen months on Sue is devoted to herbs, and is following a distance learning course to discover more about herbal medicine. Sue describes the course:

"It's the New Vitality Introduction to Herbal Medicine. You study at your own pace, and usually it takes about a year to complete. The course was recommended by Katie, who is one of the medical herbalists working at Proline. So far I've covered Anatomy and Physiology, Materia Medica, Diagnosis and Pharmacy. It's great, I'm really enjoying it. It all started when I asked questions about the work I was doing. It's opened up a whole new perspective and has made the Dispensing department much more interesting.

Proline Managing Director Tony Carter said: "We are happy to sponsor Sue through her course. It benefits everyone when personnel are enthusiastic about their work and keen to learn more. Walking through the company each morning I am always struck by the great sympathy our people have for handling herbs and refining them into fine medicines."

Sue works in the Proline Dispensing department which allows practitioners to order capsules made up to their bespoke prescription (for more about this service please call Emma on 01780 753366).

More about the New Vitality course: http://www.newvitality.org.uk/

New range of Chinese herbs to be launched 1st August

Above: interesting article that appeared in the Guardian recently about the Tibetan harvest of Cordyceps sinensis (if you click on the image it will enlarge so that you can read it). There has been growing interest in TCM medicines over the past decade. Coupled with this interest has been an increasing insistence on quality of ingredients and environmental sustainablility of supply.

Proline Botanicals is about to launch a new range of herbs used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. A 40-page colour catalogue has been produced focussing on the new range, listing over 280 different herbs and approximately six hundred products including tinctures, powders and cut herbs. Fifty of the most popular classic herbal formulae have also been included.

All the herbs have been imported from China.

The new catalogue will be available from 1st August.

Commenting on the new range Tony Carter said:

"This is an exciting new initiative for us. We try to introduce at least one big new development each year to ensure the company continues to grow. This year we are expanding our range of herbal products by forty per cent through the addition of medicines used in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

"We are aware of course that the TCM market in the United Kingdom is mature, and that there are many existing reputable suppliers of TCM medicines. However we believe that our unique quality systems and emphasis upon GMP audited procedures will be valued by many practitioners. Because our products are manufactured in the UK, under our complete control, we can guarantee that they are free of any animal ingredients and uncontaminated by heavy metals, analgesics, antihistamines, hormones or any other extraneous material.

"Our aim is to produce the purest TCM herbal medicines possible, and to make them available to practitioners at fair prices. Inevitably there will be difficulties to be experienced - TCM is a complex and sophisticated medical culture and will require careful study and attention to get things right. We are confident we will succeed."

Visit from Hadlow College

Above: Emma (far left) with the students from Hadlow College.

On Friday 12th March Proline Botanicals hosted a visit from Hadlow College in Kent. Sixteen medicinal horticulturalists, herbalists and commercial horticulturalists comprised the party.

The visit took place in the afternoon and included a tour of the Proline site, a buffet lunch and informal discussions between Proline staff and the students. Emma Suddards led the party on the tour which looked at the way dried herbs were milled, herbal fluid extracts were percolated, capsules and tablets were made and finished medicines were stored prior to despatch.

Commenting on the visit Emma said:

"We were really pleased to host a visit from such enthusiastic and interested students. Having recently graduated myself in herbal medicine I realise the value visits of this kind have in bringing the procedures to life. Creating herbal medicines to GMP standards is a fascinating process and involves many different stages - it was a pleasure to be able to show the students how we keep up the quality standards across over three hundred and fifty different herbs and nearly two thousand individual medicinal products."

If you work in an educational establishment and wish to bring a party of students to Proline Botanicals please contact us.