The Ayush cluster of Karnataka Ayurpark Healthcare Ltd, which was funded by the Centre, has attracted 18 companies which are using the dedicated facility for manufacture and product testing of herbal formulations.

The companies which have set base here include Natural Remedies, Surya Life Sciences, Prakruti Health Products, Zen Labs, SKM Pharma and Aditi Bio Life.

While Natural Remedies is engaged in the production of 10 products, Aditi Bio Life is scheduled to produce 7 formulations. These companies have already received licenses for manufacture from the Karnataka Directorate of Ayush and there are several more seeking the required permissions from the regulator, JSD Pani, president, Karnataka Indian Medicine Manufacturers Association (KIMMA) told Pharmabiz.

The Park, located at Malur Industrial area near Bengaluru, has a membership strength of 56 manufacturing units out of the 198 companies in Karnataka . It has all the modern technological facilities for tableting, encapsulation and making ointments and oral liquids. Once the operation of the cluster started, the ayurveda medicines will get a modern industry status through its presentation and for that the manufacturing process is to be modernized. Shortly, each drug in the traditional systems will have a data of clinical validation and it will come out through good manufacturing process and good packing, he added.

The Common Facility Centre, which is a combination of manufacture and testing laboratory, had commenced commercial operation on October 15, 2014. The project established under the Central Sector Scheme for development of the Ayush Industry Clusters was a national agenda driven by the Department of Ayush, in 2007 as a part of 11th Plan.

The total project outlay was Rs.21 crore out of which government of India grant is Rs.10 crore, Rs.4 crore is from equity of the herbal industry members and the remaining Rs.7 crore is from the Karnataka State Financial Corporation.

The built-up are area of the Common Facility Centre is 45,000 sq ft. It is equipped with the sophisticated instruments like HPTLC, HPLC, FTIR, GC, AAS, to name a few. The total investment for the instrumentation was Rs.2 crore, said Pani adding that the quality control lab is set up to provide microbiology, chemistry testing among other to enable the herbal companies adhere to international standards.

Ayush industries in Karnataka, who are using this quality control lab to test the raw materials and finished products as well as development of new products, can now save on the cost of investment, said Pani.