Thirteen specific disease conditions have been identified to work on for developing drugs under the Golden Triangle Partnership (GTP) mission, the tripartite initiative of the Department of AYUSH, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to create synergy between traditional and modern medicine and to develop drugs of national importance.

As part of this, conferences on three specific conditions of disease will be conducted during this month. A conference on joint disorder has been planned on 18th of July and on the next day, on sleep disorder, followed by another conference during 29th on rejuvenation and drugs for preventing cardiac diseases would be held at the guest house of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi. Senior regulatory officials, experts from the GTP mission and institutions like the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Vellore Medical College, NIMHANS, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) etc. would discuss the strategies, Dr. G S Laveker, director, Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS), New Delhi, told Pharmabiz.

The other specific diseases identified to work on include benign prostate hypertrophy, hepatitis, obesity, neurological disorder, malaria, filariasis etc. and conferences involving respective experts from various research institutions in the country would be held in subsequent months, added Lavekar.

GTP, which took off since 1st April, this year, is planned as a five-year research initiative with private participation. The Central Government has allocated Rs 60 crore for the year 2005-06 to fund GTP. The main goal of the project is to work on the existing classical and other Ayurvedic formulations and new herbal combinations with a holistic approach to strengthen it as a dynamic system.