Natural Remedies is looking forward to expand its global market presence with its range of USP grade herbal extracts. The company is looking at markets of US, EU, Asia Pacific and Australia to tap the leading formulation manufacturers.

The company is focused on supporting various Pharmacopoeia bodies of the world, for developing reliable analytical methods for Indian Medicinal Plants and their extracts. So far, its laboratory has contributed extensive analytical data on 9 of the common India medicinal plants like Andrographis, Ashwangandha, Bacopa, Centella asiatica, Forskohlii, Garcinia cambogia, Guggul, Phyllanthus amarus and Malabar nut tree. The monographs on seven plants have been published in the US Pharmacopoeia, 34.

The herbal ingredients include standardized herbal extracts, primary phyto-chemical reference substances, patented and branded dietary ingredients. While the company has widened its market opportunities, it is now looking to increase volumes to consolidate its presence in the international market, stated Dr. Amit Agarwal, director, Natural Remedies.

“We are the only company in the country engaged in the development of USP extracts,” he added.

The company’s strengths include extensive scientific studies covering proof of efficacy, safety and consistency of branded ingredients. The data is published in various international peer reviewed indexed journals. “Such publications have helped us to convince international customers on the utility and quality of our herbal ingredients,” he said.

For herbal extracts in the international market, one of the frequently encountered problems is the lack of harmony in the methods for assessment of quality. In the absence of any official methodology each manufacturer and buyer adopt their methods and often arrive at conflicting results in terms of quality assessment parameters. To minimize these problems, Natural Remedies has looked at offering the extracts that adhere to the various international Pharmacopoeia bodies.

“We are now learning the safety review process adopted by USP for dietary ingredients so that in the near future we can support them in this area too. The USP Dietary Supplements Compendium 2009-2010 covers safety reviews on popular Indian medicinal plants like Ashwagandha, Indian Frankincense (Boswellia), Fenugreek, Green Tea, Mangosteen and Noni. Such safety reviews, when published in a reputed book of reference like USP, go a long way in developing international trade on Indian medicinal plant extracts” stated Dr Agarwal.

The company’s international marketing operations are also recognized by Shefexil, the Shellac & Forest Products Export Promotion Council part of the Ministry of Commerce, as it bagged the award for excellence in exports for 2008-09 and  2009-10. It received the award in the Vegetable Soaps and Extracts category.

India has around 2,000 medicinal plants of which only 120 are used in large quantities which accounts for a mere 6 per cent. Barring few medicinal plants which are rare and endangered, there is a huge opportunity for herbal industry. To generate a demand the most important activity would be to conduct high quality randomized, double blind, placebo controlled clinical trials. Such trials are expensive and most small medium enterprises(SMEs) in the sector cannot afford them on their own. This is where the government should  allocate sufficient financial assistance under the 12th Five Year Plan, to conduct the clinical trials.

“As of now, there are very few funding options available to the herbal SMEs sector. Therefore if the government has a separate fund allocated for the clinical studies and post marketing surveillance, it would boost the overall trade of Indian medicinal plants and products made from them,” stated Dr Agarwal.