Natural Remedies, has commenced construction of its state-of-the-art cGMP facility next to its present premises in Veerasandra Industrial area in the outskirts of Bangalore. The construction of the 20,000-sq.ft facility commenced in 2002 and is expected to be completed by November 2003.

The company has invested Rs. 5 crore to set up the facility to aggressively enter the international market, Ravindra Kumar Agarwal, chairman told Pharmabiz.com

The products scheduled for production from the new facility are for formulations for human use and standardized herbal extracts.

The state-of-the-art facility is expected to be certified by various International Authorities. Although it has not been a mandatory requirement by the international regulatory authorities to set up the facility, "we are setting up the facility of International Standards, which would be useful to boost the image of Indian herbal products in international market. It could probably be a first of its kind facility in the Indian System of Medicines in Karnataka", said the chairman.

Early this year, the company had begun marketing its first-ever herbal anti rhinitis product, titled 'NRA-2'in the US. The product, which is in powder form, is marketed under the category of food supplement.

The company has been a pioneer and a leader in the herbal veterinary segment since 1951. The well-equipped Research and Development centre is recognized by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India and is also accredited by the Department of Indian System of Medicine, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

The current product range consists of 24 herbal veterinary medicines and 7 herbal feed supplements. The fastest growing product of the company is Topicure - which is India's first herbal aerosol spray to treat the deep seated, maggotted and wide spread wounds. In the herbal veterinary feed supplement category, Zigbir - Poultry feed supplement prescribed as a Natural Performance Enhancer is also rated as top product. The focus of the company is towards development of non-antibiotic growth promoter, digestive tonics for cattle sector, anti-stress products for piggery and hepatoprotective product for cattle etc.