A consortium of ayurvedic drug manufacturers of Kerala and care-Keralam with the help of Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) will set up an Ayurvedic Cluster in five acre land at Koratty in Thrissur District. The department of Ayush has already sanctioned Rs 10 crore to the project, according to Dr Joy Varghese, chief executive officer of Care-Keralam and Technical Advisor to KINFRA.

The total budget of the project, which aims to tap the vast potential for export of Ayurvedic products and create a Kerala brand, is 17.88 crore. An amount of Rs 1.10 out of this will be raised by the state government and the rest by the manufacturers.

The CEO said there are about 1200 manufacturers of ayurvedic products in the state, out of which 900 have GMP facilities. The cluster will be developed in three phases with state-of -the -art facilities for testing lab, clinical trials, product validation, process validation, GLP & GMP regulations, Quality Control and Toxicological Study Centre in the first phase. A raw-drug bank and a warehouse will be set up in the second phase. In the third phase, production facilities will be established with most modern technologies. The consortium of manufacturers is also thinking of setting up a soft gel capsule machine to help the manufacturers and to promote different products in the traditional system.

"Care- Keralam will strive to provide all technical support such as product validation, Process validation, GLP & GMP Regulations and Quality Control using contemporary, outstanding technology and practices to Ayurvedic Industry. Our aim is to accomplish a radical change to compete with the global health care Industry. We will also pave way for quality training, modern production facilities, world-class research, testing and certification facility, herbarium, museum, information center and reference library," Dr Joy Varghese told Pharmabiz.

He said the international herbal industry turnover is worth 85 billion dollars, of which India's share is only Rs 440 crore and China is having a share of eighty-five per cent. In future, India should have at least 25 per cent of the international market share, he hoped.

There is also a proposal to set up a process validation lab along with the cluster to introduce a range of health supplements and drugs for specific ailments, which would find acceptance among people. The lab will provide R & D facilities to small and medium enterprises.

While interacting with Pharmabiz Dr Joy said the main objective of the consortium is to promote Kerala as a global destination for sourcing ayurvedic products and services of internationally acceptable standards. For this, care-Keralam will develop a Centre for Excellence for Research in Ayurveda, to be approved by international organizations, including WHO. Apart from this, there will be supply of free or subsidized seedlings and plantation facilities to farmers to ensure medicinal plant resources.