After about a decade of rigorous efforts, Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) has been granted patent on its herbal formulation useful for management and treatment of several ailments by Indian Patent Office, Kolkata.
The formulation developed by Dr Kaushal Kumar, scientist of Department of Forest Product and Utilisation will be released under the brand name ‘BAU Birsin’ for commercial production to drug industry.
Dr Kaushal informed that the formulation has been prepared with the leaves and bark of moderate size tree Vitex peduncularis (popular name Charigorwa) found in abundance in rural areas of tribal and hilly regions of the country, including Jharkhand.
The invention process leads to a synergistic composition which comprises a mixture of several natural and herbal ingredients which is effective up to two years under recommended storage conditions. In the face of lack of antipyretic and analgesic herbal products in the market, the present invention has a great scope in treatment of fever, body ache, cough and cold in oral doses.
All the standard scientific parameters of herbal drug formulation preparation have been followed, he informed. An agreement containing the nitty gritty of commercial utilization of the invention with the National Biodiversity Authority, Chennai is underway.
BAU Vice Chancellor Dr Onkar Nath Singh has congratulated the scientist Dr Kaushal Kumar for this hard-earned achievement.
Singh described it as a historic moment for the university and a big success. Expressing joy at this first success of the university, he congratulated the young forestry scientist Dr Kaushal. He called it a technical transfer of formulations under the name of BAU Birsin brand in the national and international market through a high level company.
File patent application on herbal formulation developed by BAU was received late Thursday evening from the Indian Intellectual Property Office, Kolkata under the patent rule.
The university has been trying to patent this product for the last ten years.
Chariagorwa grows naturally in the forests and villages of Chhotanagpur and Santhal Parganas. In connection with the use of this tree, an earlier research paper was published in the British Medical Journal in 1921 by Lieutenant Colonel JCS Bagoun, Civil Surgeon, Ranchi.
But the product could not be prepared for its use as medicine. Various similar projects going on in the university and it is expected that many of them will bring similar results in future, he added.