Licorice has been used in medicine for ancient times. Licorice root contains active compounds with different activities: saponins, flavonoids, coumarins and essential oil. It shows diverse biological properties. This article presents current achievements with clinical trials and creates new possibilities to use licorice in therapy. It has been proved effectiveness of licorice preparations in infectious diseases of respiratory tract, aphthous stomatitis, in dermatoses and also in skin care. The conducted researches on licorice preparations, especially DGL, present on the pharmaceutical market, which are recommended in gastrointestinal ulceration, have not proved their anti-ulcerative effect. The results of some clinical trials may, however, raise doubts due to the small groups and sometimes the lack of randomization or standardization of the studied preparation. Due to its sweet taste, it is used as a corrigens.