The Tamil Nadu Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani Drug Manufacturers Association (TASUDMA) will be conducting a workshop for the technical staff  of its member units in January next year for creating awareness among its members about the Ayush department’s quality certification scheme and the new guidelines introduced by it recently.

Top officials of the department of Ayush, regulatory officials of the state drug control department and experts from ADMA and ISM industry will be invited as resource persons, said Dr Vijay A Mehta, president, TASUDMA.

The Ayush department has recently introduced a voluntary quality certification scheme to ensure efficacy of herbal products based on the Indian Systems of Medicines and Homoeopathy. The companies which are selling products within the country have to obtain Ayush Standard Mark certification and those engaged in exports should obtain Ayush Premium Mark. The manufacturing units have to qualify for the new protocols introduced by the department in getting licenses for new drugs. The workshop will give the participants awareness about all these technical problems, he said.

The president of TASUDMA said the association has a membership strength of 78 manufacturing companies and representatives of all of them will be invited to the workshop-cum-seminar. He further said those who are not members of the Association, can also attend the workshop in order to attain knowledge about Ayush schemes. Tamil Nadu has a total of 500 licensees for the manufacture of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs.

The participants will be given training on GMP, GLP and GCP by experts from the field. Classes on new product development, marketing skills development, new guidelines for clinical trials, screening and validation of traditional medicines as per WHO protocols and identification of raw materials are necessary for the technical staffs of the big and small units and they have to be updated with them, said Dr T Thirunarayanan, technical advisor to TASUDMA.

Last year the association inked a pact with the Tirunelveli based Manonmaniam Sundarnar University for standardization of medicinal plants. The University has allotted 6 acres of land to TASUDMA for cultivation and identification of medicinal plants. Dr Vijay Mehta said for the development of herbal drugs for treating the diseases of animals, the association will sign a MoU with Madras University soon.

TASUDMA conducted 12 meetings and 2 seminars in the last two years and gave training to 22 technical staff of various companies in Quality Control aspects.

Recently a group of manufacturers have severed their ties with Dr Mehta’s Association and floated a parallel association in the name of Indian Medicine Manufacturers Association.