Saurashtra University, Rajkot, has conducted 16th National Convention of Society of Pharmacognosy and international symposium on herbal and traditional medicine on the theme “Frontiers in Drug Discovery from Herbal & Traditional Medicine” recently in university campus.

The symposia is jointly organised by Indian Pharmaceutical Association, (IPA) Rajkot Branch, University Grant Commission, (UGC) New Delhi, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Saurashtra University, Indian Society of Pharmacognosy, Barkatullah University, Bhopal.

Herbal medicines have always been a major component of traditional system of healing in developing countries, which have also been an integral part of our history and culture.  The symposia will provide educational opportunities for pharmacist, pharmacologists, pharmacognosists, botanist, ethanobotanist, etahopharmacologist, modern scientists and other involved in research, development and marketing of herbal and traditional drugs used in health care.

This event will emphasize upon the drug development from natural resources with a special focus on herbal drugs used in Indian system of medicine and also highlight the needs and requirements for research and development of natural products in general and phytomedicine in particular through international collaboration and coordination.

The event has covered resent trends in the evaluation of herbal medicine, complementary and alternative system of health care : for development of herbal drugs, harmonization of regulatory requirement and quality control parameters for the herbal drugs, impact of traditional system of medicines as health care resource, phytomedicine: Industrial potential for development, evaluation of safety and toxicity of herbal drugs, traditional medicine and the world wide web: globalization of local knowledge or localizing global technology.

Prof. (Dr) Chandrakant Kokate, M.Pharm, PhD (Pharmaceutical Sciences), FGAES (Germany), vice-chancellor, KLE University, Belgaum, Karnataka, (National Advisor, Society of Pharmacognosy, India), Dr Ravi Durvasula, MD, Chief of Medicine and Acting ACOS for Research, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, USA, Dr Douglas J Perkins, PhD, Laboratories of Tropical Diseases Centre for Global Health, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA, Dr Pratap Shah, MD, F A C S clinical coordinator, Centre for Global Health (USA) and International Centre of Research Excellence in the city of Rajkot, clinical asst. professor and director, International Urology Programme, Dept. of Urology, UNM School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM, USA were present at the event.