In an effort to be at par with modern scientific medicine and reassert effectiveness of ayurvedic formulations, city based ayurvedic giant Shri Baidyanath Ayurved Bhavan has initiated the process of revalidating its products scientifically.
To begin with, it is testing one of the most effective medicines, the tamra (copper) bhasma with support from reputable institutions like National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) and Bhide Research Institute (BRI) from Pune and Institute of Pharmaceuticals Education and Research (IPER), Sewagram. The process is likely to be completed in three years. The second product in the list is swarna bhasma.
"Ayuvedic granths documented the working and constituents of various medicines and herbs but modern medicine requires 'evidence based' data on not just toxicity but also mechanism of action. To adhere to this requirement, Baidyanath has initiated the process of revalidating the facts since last one and half years," said B K Shrikhande, director research, Baidyanath Research Foundation and chief executive (technical) of Baidyanath.
The company has started the process with Arogyavardhani Vati, a hepato protective medicine for liver. The medicine contains not just copper in extremely fine form but also certain herbal ingredients and is known to work very well as liver tonic and in management of liver diseases. Since Baidyanath is making the medicine as per text in Ayurved literature, it is sharing the process with BRI so that the institute can independently prepare the medicine and test it. "The popular belief is that Ayurveda is phyto-pharmaceuticals but it is much beyond it," Shrikhande told TOI.
He said the bhasma preparation involved two stages, metal purification (shodhan) done using a copper wire or plate and bhasmikaran or firing the metal in furnace repeatedly till it gets converted into metal oxide. He claims that since the metal is in oxide form, it does not get deposited in the body and does not have any ill effects. The medicine has been given to NCL and BRI for testing.
NCL is conducting physical characterisation using x-ray diffraction, mass spectro-photometry and electron microscope. BRI is testing the process of manufacturing and the composition by repeating the process used by Baidyanath. And IPER is conducting toxicity tests. Shrikhande said once this was done, the company would be conducting clinical trials with help of ayurvedic colleges and with informed consent of subjects. The industry has support of Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Sidha (CCRS) and Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.
"After revalidation is over, our product will also have information constituents and contraindications. Once one drug is tested, evolving a protocol for future tests on other products will be easier. The Drug Act has already fixed the parts per million (ppm) limits of different metals that can be used in medicines. Our products will follow these limits," Shrikhande said.
Swarna bhasma, the next product to be revalidated, will be easier to test as some work had already been done on it at different centres including human trials. Baidyanath still wants to revalidate the product through scientific characterization to evolve a process that can optimize the minimum quantity of gold in the form of nano-particles that would have the desired effect. "Since gold is expensive, industry would also prefer to make the product available at affordable price," Shrikhande said.
To begin with, it is testing one of the most effective medicines, the tamra (copper) bhasma with support from reputable institutions like National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) and Bhide Research Institute (BRI) from Pune and Institute of Pharmaceuticals Education and Research (IPER), Sewagram. The process is likely to be completed in three years. The second product in the list is swarna bhasma.
"Ayuvedic granths documented the working and constituents of various medicines and herbs but modern medicine requires 'evidence based' data on not just toxicity but also mechanism of action. To adhere to this requirement, Baidyanath has initiated the process of revalidating the facts since last one and half years," said B K Shrikhande, director research, Baidyanath Research Foundation and chief executive (technical) of Baidyanath.
The company has started the process with Arogyavardhani Vati, a hepato protective medicine for liver. The medicine contains not just copper in extremely fine form but also certain herbal ingredients and is known to work very well as liver tonic and in management of liver diseases. Since Baidyanath is making the medicine as per text in Ayurved literature, it is sharing the process with BRI so that the institute can independently prepare the medicine and test it. "The popular belief is that Ayurveda is phyto-pharmaceuticals but it is much beyond it," Shrikhande told TOI.
He said the bhasma preparation involved two stages, metal purification (shodhan) done using a copper wire or plate and bhasmikaran or firing the metal in furnace repeatedly till it gets converted into metal oxide. He claims that since the metal is in oxide form, it does not get deposited in the body and does not have any ill effects. The medicine has been given to NCL and BRI for testing.
NCL is conducting physical characterisation using x-ray diffraction, mass spectro-photometry and electron microscope. BRI is testing the process of manufacturing and the composition by repeating the process used by Baidyanath. And IPER is conducting toxicity tests. Shrikhande said once this was done, the company would be conducting clinical trials with help of ayurvedic colleges and with informed consent of subjects. The industry has support of Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Sidha (CCRS) and Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.
"After revalidation is over, our product will also have information constituents and contraindications. Once one drug is tested, evolving a protocol for future tests on other products will be easier. The Drug Act has already fixed the parts per million (ppm) limits of different metals that can be used in medicines. Our products will follow these limits," Shrikhande said.
Swarna bhasma, the next product to be revalidated, will be easier to test as some work had already been done on it at different centres including human trials. Baidyanath still wants to revalidate the product through scientific characterization to evolve a process that can optimize the minimum quantity of gold in the form of nano-particles that would have the desired effect. "Since gold is expensive, industry would also prefer to make the product available at affordable price," Shrikhande said.
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