The New Delhi-based Arbro Pharmaceuticals has announced the setting up of a state-of-the-art testing facility for ayurvedic products. The facility is suitable for heavy metal testing and can be utilized by ayurvedic medicine manufacturers with export interests.

According to Saurabh Arora, Executive Director, Arbro Pharmaceuticals, the company has spent Rs 4 crore to upgrade "Arbro Analytical Research Centre" (AARC) in the Keerti Nagar Industrial Area.

"With the new facility in place, we will be able to carry out even very low detection at high throughput. If the analytical wing was able to screen just 15 - 20 samples earlier, with the installation of the new facility, the centre can screen upto 250 samples a day," he said.

AARC has a full-fledged R&D centre, both NABL (ISO/IEC 17025:1999) and ISO 9000: 2001 (since 1995) certification as it is recognized by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board and Haryana State Pollution Control Board. The centre has an MoU with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority as a testing facility. The facility is licensed by both Drugs Controller Administration and the Directorate of Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy, he informed.

The company plans to enter the field of Biotechnology for GMO, introduce rapid detection technology for pathogens and focus in the field of Nano-Technology, Arora said.