The first 2025 meeting of the ESCOP Board and the ESCOP Scientific Committee took place in Karlsruhe at the headquarters of the company Dr. Willmar Schwabe GmbH & Co. KG. The delegates visited the manufacturing plant during the morning shift. Dr. Martin Burkard, Vice President of Global Medical Affairs, introduced the group into the company´s history as well as into their current activities in phytotherapy and education in the field. The guided tour was followed by the busy schedule of the Board of ESCOP and later of the Scientific Committee.
The Board welcomed Roy Upton, founder, executive director and editor of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP), to discuss and identify options for a cooperation between ESCOP and AHP. At the moment a memorandum of understanding between the two associations is in preparation. Plans for the next ESCOP webinars were elaborated as well, among numerous other topics.
In the Scientific Committee several new European developments and the recent work of the HMPC were presented and discussed. Formal amendments in the ESCOP monographs were also covered in the meeting.
The work continued in the Subcommittes B and E with the discussion of several monographs such as Bacopa monieri, Zingiberis rhizoma, Absinthii herba, Taraxaci herba cum radice, Rosmarini herba and Rosmarini aetheroleum. Bacopa monieri and Zingiberis rhizoma are the next monographs for final editing and publication in 2025.