The Hindu Business Line : `Market for ayurveda largely untapped' — Need to evolve scientific discipline from a rich knowledge base

Industry & Economy - Alternative Medicines

`Market for ayurveda largely untapped' — Need to evolve scientific discipline from a rich knowledge base

Our Bureau

Kochi , Jan. 2

AYURVEDA needs immediate and extensive reorientation to gain scientific credibility, as this traditional old system of medicine is poised for an unprecedented expansion in the global scenario.

A paper submitted at a recent seminar pointed out that increasing number of people all over the world are showing interest in alternative medicine and the recognition given by the WHO is an indication of its gaining importance.

Apart from Chinese herbal medicines, ayurveda appears to have the greatest potential in world trade. Yet the huge market remains untapped due to lack of concerted efforts to overcome some of the hurdles in the wider acceptability of ayurveda.

Dr E.M. Muralidharan, of the Biotechnology Division of the Kerala Forest Research Institute, Thrissur in his paper "Modernising Ayurveda - Prospects for Biotechnology" said that there is a need to transform ayurveda into a dynamic, constantly validated and evolving scientific discipline from a rich knowledge base in the form of oral tradition and scriptures.

The cultural and religious underpinnings of ayurveda are too intricate to unravel and unfortunately faith plays a great role in garnering supporters. There have been attempts to integrate the different streams of alternate medicine into modern medicine and vice versa but this syncretism appears to be only for reaping commercial benefits and will not benefit any of the streams.

He said that a major hurdle in the wider acceptability of ayurvedic and other herbal drugs is the absence of standardisation and lack of acceptable procedure to establish standards.

The quality of raw drugs used in manufacture as well as the finished drug being marketed is suspect. Many of the formulations are complex and comparable to crude drugs in composition and would require elaborate protocol for testing.

Besides, safety and clinical efficacy would have to be ensured to find acceptance at least in western markets.

Physiochemical parameters in the formulation of medicines and properties of the finished product have to be arrived at for the purpose of standardisation.

It is evident that biotechnology can help bring about a revival of ayurveda at least in areas such as the sustainable use of plant resources, quality control and clinical validation of drugs and protection of traditional IPR. Biotechnology, if some degree of consensus is reached, will help contribute to a synergy between the best of ayurveda and modern science, he said.