Skip to main content

Site notifications

Complementary medicines

Complementary medicines include complementary medicine ingredients such as vitamin, mineral, herbal material, aromatherapy and homoeopathic preparations. They are non-prescription medicines and are also known as alternative medicines.

Complementary medicines are non-prescription medicines. They are medicines that primarily contain complementary medicine ingredients that have an established identity and tradition of use. Examples of complementary medicine ingredients are:

  • vitamins
  • minerals
  • plant material
  • nutritional substances
  • essential oils
  • microorganisms
  • animal material.

Most complementary medicines are included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) as listed medicines.

Latest alerts

Latest articles

Latest publications

Open consultations

Help us improve the Therapeutic Goods Administration site