To give a boost to the Ayush products to make them more acceptable in the international market, the Rajiv Kher Task Force has recommended to the government to launch a Focus Product Scheme under which top 25 plants, their products and extracts and top 50 ayurvedic formulations should be identified for special thrust.

The Task Force, which had submitted its recommendation to the government recently, asked the government to make available enough funds for compiling internationally acceptable Drug Master Files for these products and there must be a concerted push between various Ministries to ensure that these products are allowed market access in all countries.

The Vishesh Krishi Upaj Yojana (VKUY) should also include extracts as well as compounds isolated from the herbs so identified under the Focus Product Scheme. These focus products should have a published information on minimum purchase price and minimum quantity for a minimum period of time to encourage reliable cultivation.

Produce from both wild sources and cultivated land should be encouraged independently. To achieve desired purity level at various micro units spread across the country may not be economically feasible. Hence these have to be bought at a gross level and routed to select central units for purification to bring them to the required quality standards, the Task Force in its report said.

It also recommended that processing zones and near important cultivation areas should be developed where the whole process of adding value to the raw medicinal plants takes place. Ethanol availability to recognized Ayush industries producing these products should be on a fast track and assured basis. These formulations should be given complete tax concession with respect to excise duty/ vat etc. when priced at a predetermined threshold cost of therapy per day at therapeutic doses and having therapeutic claims.

The Task Force also asked the government to identify and promote Agri Export Zones (AEZs) for these plants. Encourage clinical trial work to establish efficacy/safety and process standardisation of various formulations. Government should conceptualise a project and approach established pharmaceutical companies or established R&D labs, to conduct necessary research for select ayurvedic preparations especially analytical research.

The government should also provide a meaningful financial assistance (for example Rs 50 lakh) as a grant if the product satisfies certain parameters such as the product complies with guidelines on heavy metal/pesticide/mycotoxin/microbial residues and also efficacy is proven by two double blind controlled trials, the Task Force in its report said.