The Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) for Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) has agreed in its last meeting a proposal put forward by experts to enforce printing of expiry date on the labels of Ayurvedic drugs.

With this move, the Ayurvedic products, which are not coming under the relevant provisions of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, will be subjected to the requirement of mentioning their shelf life on the labels.

Though the shelf life of Ayurvedic and other Indian traditional drugs are mentioned in the respective formularies, neither the government nor the industry has ever bothered about revealing the expiry of these drugs to the public so far.

The basic principle of shelf life is related with presence and absence of efficacy and safety of the products. Thereby, the maximum period, which the drug will remain safe and efficacious, is of paramount importance as far as a therapeutic product is concerned.

Although the herbal and Ayurvedic formularies have references of shelf life of active ingredients in the original form as well as the preparations, the DTAB members are of the view that the shelf life can be increased by the new packaging technologies.

However, the DTAB has now decided to refer the issue to specify the shelf life and expiry period of Ayurvedic ingredients and preparations to the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia Committee and the Committee has been asked to submit the report within three months to the DTAB.