Lok Sabha Question No. 437 (STARRED), answered on 2022-04-01
Subject: Research in Ayurvedic Medicines
Ministry: AYURVEDA,YOGA & NATUROPATHY,UNANI,SIDDHA AND HOMEOPATHY (AYUSH)
Asked by: Arun Sao, Sudhakar Tukaram Shrangre

## MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA, YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI,

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (AYUSH)

LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 437 TO BE ANSWERED ON 1 ST  APRIL, 2022

## RESEARCH IN AYURVEDIC MEDICINES

## *437.   SHRI ARUN SAO: SHRI SUDHAKAR TUKARAM SHRANGARE:

Will the Minister of AYUSH be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government has been encouraging research to develop Ayurvedic medicines for different diseases in the country;
- (b) if so, the details of the ongoing projects in different laboratories, State/UT-wise including Chhattisgarh along with the progress made so far in each case; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to get international recognition for Ayurvedic medicines which are being developed in the country?

THE MINISTER OF AYURVEDA, YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI,

## ANSWER SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY(AYUSH)

(SHRI SARBANANDA SONOWAL)

- (a) to (c) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 437* FOR 1 ST  APRIL, 2022

(a): Yes, Sir. Ministry of Ayush is encouraging research to develop medicines for different diseases in the country. The Ministry supports research on various Ayurvedic medicines through  its research Councils, National Institutes,  National  Medicinal  Plant  Board (NMPB)  beside  schematic  guidelines  of  Centre  of  excellence  Scheme  and  Extramural Research Scheme.

The Central Council of Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS)is maintaining a website entitled Ayush Research Portal in which all published research information related to all Ayush systems are uploaded systematically for wider utility and visibility of research.

The glimpses related to scientific study of Ayurvedic medicinesin different research areas are as under:

- i. 154  Classical  Ayurveda  medicines  on  37  disease  conditions  have  been validated under Clinical research.
- ii. 27 Classical Ayurveda medicines in 12 disease conditions are under various phase of Clinical research.
- iii. Pharmacognostical  studies  on  312  medicinal  plant  species  have  been completed and 22 Pharmacognostical studies and Quality control are under process under Medicinal Plant research.
- iv. To  ensure  quality  of  Ayurvedic  drugs,  431  pharmacopoeial  standard  of Ayurvedic formulations have been developed and phytochemical investigations of 220 medicinal plants used in Ayurveda have been done.
- v. 175  Ayurvedic  drugs  including  medicinal  plants  have  been  screened  for biological activities. Safety toxicity study for 69 Ayurvedicdrugs including medicinal plants have been done under Pharmacological research.
- vi. 12 technologies have been developed and commercialized through National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) for wider publicity.

During  COVID-19,Ministry  of  Ayush  has  formed  an  Inter-disciplinary  AYUSH R&D Task Force in convergence with different institutes like ICMR, DBT, CSIR, AIIMS and  Ayush  Institutions.    The  Interdisciplinary  Ayush  Research  and  Development  Task

Force has formulated and designed clinical research protocols for prophylactic studies and add-on interventions in COVID-19 positive cases.

The Ministry has also repurposed the polyherbal Ayurvedic formulation Ayush-64 in COVID-19 and launched interdisciplinary studies involving Ayush interventions for COVID-19 based on recommendations of Task force. Under various research organizations and National Institutes under Ministry of Ayush, 142 research studies in the country are being conducted on Ayush  interventions.  AYUSH  Sanjivani mobile app has also been developed by Ministry of Ayush. And has documented the impact assessment  of  effectiveness,  acceptance  and  usage  of  Ayush  advisories

& measures in the prevention of COVID-19.

An MoU has been signed between All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi and London  School  of  Hygiene  &  Tropical  Medicine  (LSH&TM),  UK  for  conducting  the study  on  'Ashwagandha  for  promoting  recovery  from  Covid-19  in  the  UK'  on  22  July 2021.

Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) in collaboration with various agencies undertakes  Scientific  validation  and  regulatory  studies  in  accordance  with  National  and International regulatory guidelines for Ayush medicines for their international recognition. CSIR-CDRI is having  all  the  requisite  expertise  to  scientifically  validate  the  traditional method of treatments based on herbs, including GLP test facility for regulatory studies of the Ayurvedic Medicines.Further, CSIR-CIMAP and CSIR-NBRI have developed one of the Ayurvedic products viz.BGR-34 (NBRMAP-DB) taking leads from the Ayurveda for management of Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).In addition, a project to validate and to explore mechanism of action and repurpose the medicinal plants-based therapy to combat the  severity  of  COVID-19  infection  is  being  implemented  jointly  by  CSIR-  Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants(CIMAP), CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology(IMTECH), CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research(IITR), CSIR-Indian Institute  of  Integrative  Medicine(IIIM)  and  CSIR-Institute  of  Himalayan  Bioresource Technology(IHBT).CSIR-Central  Institute  of  Medicinal  and  Aromatic  Plants(CIMAP), CSIR-IMTECH and CSIR-IITR are jointly working on the project ' Andrographis based therapy to suppress the severity of the COVID-19 infection by targeting host pathogenic mechanisms'

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) under its Central Sector Scheme (CSS) on  'Conservation,  Development  and  Sustainable  Management  of  Medicinal  Plants' provides project based financial support to carryout research activities on various aspects of medicinal plants to government as well as private universities/research institutions/organizations  across  the  country  only.  During  last  05  years  64  projects  were supported on various  medicinal  plants  based  research  activities.  A  number  of  initiatives /actions  have  also  been  taken  by  Ministry  of  Ayush  for  management  of  COVID-19 pandemic including issuance of Advisories to States/UTs, general public, doctors etc.

(b) The  Research  &  Innovation  in  Ayush  is  a  component  of  Central  Sector  Scheme namely  AYURGYAN  Scheme  (erstwhile  Extra  Mural  Research  Scheme).   Under  this component funds are  provided for Research activities in all  stream  of  Ayush  (including Ayurveda).   Under  the  AYURGYAN  Scheme,  funds  are  not  released  state-wise.  Under Research  &  Innovation  in  Ayush  component  of  AYURGYAN  Scheme  (Erstwhile EMR), 128 Research Projects including projects on herbal medicines have been supported since 2014-15.

The details of the ongoing projects in Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences may be seen at http://ccras.nic.in/sites/default/files/Notices/List\_of\_onging\_project.pdf

(c) The Ministry has developed a Central Sector Scheme for Promotion of International Co-operation in Ayush (IC Scheme) under which Ministry of Ayush provides support to Indian Ayush Manufacturers/ Ayush Service providers to give boost to export of Ayush products  &  services;   facilitate  International  promotion,  development  and  recognition  of AYUSH system of medicine; foster interaction of stakeholders and market development of Ayush  at  international  level;  promote  academics  and  research  through  establishment  of Ayush Academic Chairs in foreign countries and holding training workshop/symposiums for promoting and strengthening awareness and interest about Ayush Systems of Medicine at international level.

Ministry  of  Ayush  has  also  taken  following  steps  towards  promotion  of  Ayurvedic medicines globally:

- I. Ministry  has  signed  25  Country  to  Country  MoUs  for  Cooperation  in  field  of Traditional Medicine and Homoeopathy with foreign nations.
- II. 32 MoUs have been signed with international institutes for undertaking Collaborative Research / Academic collaboration.
- III. 14  MoUs  have  been  signed  with  international  institutes  for  setting  up  of  Ayush Academic Chairs in foreign nations.
- IV. Ministry of Ayush has provided support for establishment of 38 Ayush Information Cells in 34 foreign nations.
- V. The 'Ayush Export Promotion Council' has been registered under section 8(4) of the Companies Act 2013 on 04.01.2022 under the Ministry of Ayush in support of the Ministry  of  Corporate  Affairs  to  tackle  the  obstacles  for  registration  of  Ayush products abroad, undertaking of market studies and research activities abroad
- VI. Ministry of Ayush under its International Fellowship/Scholarship Programme offers scholarships to foreign nationals for undertaking Ayush courses in premier institutions in India.
- VII. MoUs  have  been  signed  with  London  School  of  Hygiene  &  Tropical  Medicine (LSH&TM), UK and Frankfurter Innovationszentrum Biotechnologie GmbH (FIZ), Frankfurt Germany for clinical research studies on  mitigation  of Covid-19 through Ayurveda.
- VIII. Ministry of Ayush issued advisories on protecting people from COVID and staying healthy in English as well as in 08 other foreign languages.
- IX. Ministry  of  Ayush  provides  Ayush  Educational  Training  to  regulators  of  foreign nations.
- X. Ministry of Ayush in cooperation with QCI has got developed Quality Certification programme viz. Ayush mark and Premium mark to increase reliability of standards of ASU&H Products.
- XI. Ministry  of  Commerce  through  the  MAI  scheme  supported  Ayushindustry  to participate  in  prominent  trade  fairs,  business  delegations  and  also  to  reimburse  the

natural  product  certifications  like  Halal,  Kosher,  Non-GMO  certification,  USP  NF food certification etc.

- XII. WHO-GMP (COPP) has been given to 31 Ayurvedic Drug manufacturers to facilitate the export of Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani & Homoeopathy Drugs.
- XIII. An Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H), Ministry of Ayush and American Herbal  Pharmacopoeia,  USA  signed  on  13th  September,  2021  for  strengthening, promotion, and development of standards in the field of Ayurveda and other Indian Traditional systems of medicine between the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
- XIV. An India-EU Technical Working Group (TWG) on Ayurveda has been established. The Technical Working Group has the representation of technical experts from the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, the European Commission, the European Medicines  Agency  (EMA)  and  its  Committee  on  Herbal  Medicinal  Products (HMPC).

********