In the last 30 years, an Arnica pill turned the first homeopathic remedy to get license nod from the British medicines regulator under controversial new rules.

Nelsons Arnicare Arnica 30c pillules has been registered for sprains and bruising by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency under the National Rules Scheme, which was introduced in September 2006.

The scheme permits manufacturers to point what disorders the medicine will cure. At the same time, it does not require companies to prove their product functions or that it has been through clinical trials.
 
The remedies that cure minor illnesses, which would not need to consult a physician, are considered.
 
The makers of homeopathic products were prohibited from giving a therapeutic indication due to a lack of evidence questioning its effectiveness since 1971.

However, under the new granted license permit conditions to be listed on the packaging if there is a tradition of using it in United Kingdom homeopathic tradition for the relief or cure of specific small conditions or symptoms.

But experts have cast a shadow of distrust over the decision, dubbing it a “cynical mockery of evidence-based medicine”.

Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, indicated the arnica-based homeopathic product had zero active ingredients.

He said: “This is a huge rip-off and the label now makes false and misleading claims. There is no biological plausibility for this to work - it makes a cynical mockery of evidence-based medicine.

“Arnica is actually poisonous if you swallow it, so these pills contain essentially zero active ingredient.”