The Union Science and Technology Ministry will soon launch a Rs 50-crore Phyto-Pharma mission in the Northeastern States to conserve and promote cultivation of medicinal plants for unmet medical needs as well as boost farmers’ income the region endowed with rich biodiversity.
Union Science and Technology Minister Dr Harshvardhan recently said setting up the mission is one of the several steps the Government has in its platter to bring about a paradigm shift in biotechnology to ensure inclusive growth in the country’s North-East Region (NER).
“The Phyto-Pharma Plant Mission aims at conservation and cultivation of endangered and threatened endemic medicinal plants, and discovery of new botanical drugs for unmet medical needs using the rich traditional ethno-botanical knowledge and biodiversity of these States. At the same time, it will also improve availability of authentic and quality botanical raw material on sustainable basis for a boom in the phytopharmaceutical industry,” he said.
Through this mission, it is expected to enable farmers from N-E States and phytopharmaceutical industry to become global leaders in production and export of some quality botanical drugs for unmet medical needs. For this Mission, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) will be the nodal coordinating and implementing department and work closely with Ministry of DONER and other identified institutions.
Dr Harshvardhan pointed out that taking a clue of the global trends and opportunities in plant based medicines, in India, DCGI promugulated guidelines for phytopharmaceutical drug development (similar to USFDA botanical guidance) in 2015.
“This new regulation has given a hope for innovations and development of new drugs from botanicals in a scientific way and would help in the global acceptance of the use of herbal products by modern medical profession,” he added.
To cash in on the growing market, said Dr Harshvardhan, the DBT will ensure captive cultivation of selected medicinal plants, develop technology packages for production of GMP grade medicinal plants extracts for export markets and produce safe and efficacious phytopharmaceuticals from medicinal plants in the northeastern region for unmet medical needs.