The Union government has now given a fillip to phytopharmaceuticals with
the reconstitution of the apex body and the sub-committees. This
according to the government will now give a major boost to the sector
which is gaining eminence in the lifesciences landscape in the country.
The
apex body will be chaired by Prof. SS Handa, ex-director, CSIR-IIIM,
Jammu. The ten members of the apex body are DBA Narayana, eminent
scientist, Ayurvide Trust; Dr. SK Barik, director, CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow;
Dr. Ram Viswakarma, director, CSIR- IIM Lucknow; AK Pradhan, DDC, CDSCO,
New Delhi; Prof. RK Goyal, vice chancellor, DIPSRU, New Delhi; Dr.
Neelima Kshirsagar, clinical pharmacology, ICMR, New Delhi; Dr. Sridhar
Dwivedi, dean and principal, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences,
Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi; Prof. Kanchan Kohli Professor and
head department of pharmaceutics, School of Pharma, Education and
Research, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi; Dr. Neeraj Tandon, Scientist D and
head, publication division, medicinal plants, ICMR, New Delhi; and Dr.
Sanjeev Tripathi, head, QA &MR, Sanat Products.
The apex body
will provide the overall technical and policy directions relating to
the process of herbal drugs or phytopharmaceuticals monograph
development and other related issues. It will provide suggestions on
effective implementation on herbal drugs and phytopharmaceutical
standards. It will recommend for the inclusion and exclusion of
monographs from the upcoming edition of Indian Pharmacopoeia. It will
also supervise the functioning of various sub-committees constituted for
this purpose and to provide necessary inputs and suggestions put forth
by the committee from time to time.
The sub-committee appointed
for this will be headed by Dr. DBA Narayana. The members will be Dr.
Raman Dang, professor, DPSRU, New Delhi; nominee director, CSIR-IIIM,
Jammu; nominee, CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow; nominee, DDC, CDSCO, New Delhi;
director, PCIM & H, Ghaziabad; and nominee, CBMR, Lucknow.
The
key focus of the sub-committee is on pharmaceutical monograph
development. It will review and include the list of herbal products and
phytopharmaceuticals in the Indian Pharmacopoeia. It will review and
provide source data for pharmaceutical development. It will guide the
regulatory support on the existing scenario and upcoming developments of
herbal products and phytopharmaceuticals. It will recommend and guide
on the general chapters of the upcoming Indian Pharmacopoeia. It will
suggest the inclusion of the monograph as per the needs of the country.
Further,
the government has also created a dedicated DNA barcode committee which
is led by Dr. Rakesh Sharma, director, Centre for Cellular and
Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. Other members are Dr. UV Babu,
principal scientist, The Himalaya Drug Committee; Dr. Sumit G Gandhi,
senior scientist, CSIR-IIM, Jammu; and Prof. Satishkumar, professor,
department of biotechnology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. The
expert committee according to the government will provide supportive
documents and interpretation of DNA barcode for herbal monograph. It
will validate and review the source DNA barcode of plants for the
creation of monographs for herbal products.
Similarly for the
production, and processing of herbs without contaminants, it has formed
two dedicated expert teams each led by Dr. Ram Mohan Singh, director,
CDTL, Mumbai and Dr. Sandhya Kulshrestha nominee pharma consultant for
Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee. The two committees
in their respective areas will provide suggestions in procurement of
material and suggest limits on use of pesticides and heavy metals for
the preparation of phytopharmaceuticals.
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