Drug Development for Select Diseases

Background: Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) is actively involved in the scientific process of drug development adopting prevalent guidelines such as good clinical practices guidelines for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani (ASU) drugs (GCP-ASU), Ministry of AYUSH and National ethical guidelines for Bio-medical Research (ICMR), WHO guidelines for traditional medicines, etc. Drug developed: Till date, 11 technologies have been developed and commercialized by transferring to the Industry through National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, for wider public utility including drugs for disease like AYUSH 82 for diabetes, AYUSH-64 for malaria, AYUSH SG for rheumatoid arthritis etc, also 17 drugs for RCH have been developed. Drug development under progress: Various new formulations like AYUSH manas for mental retardation/cognitive deficit, AYUSH QOL 2C for improving quality of life in cancer patients, AYUSH Rasayana (A and B) for Geriatric health, AYUSH C1 oil for wound healing, AYUSH PJ-7 for dengue, AYUSH M-3 for migraine, AYUSH SL for filariasis, AYUSH A for bronchial asthma, AYUSH D for Type II diabetes mellitus, carctol S for ovarian cancer, AYUSH K1 for chronic kidney diseases, AYUSH GMH for non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and AYUSH PTK for hepato-protection as adjuvant to anti tubercular treatment (ATT) have been taken up which are at different phases of drug development. Conclusion: Council is working towards drug development following scientific lines taking leads from LHTs and from classical Ayurveda texts to bring out scientifically validated medicine for use among masses in disease conditions of National importance and is committed to develop and provide treatment and prevention of emerging important lifestyle-related disease and other health requirements.