Quality Standards of Indian Medicinal Plants: Volume- 9

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In India where 90 per cent of the raw material for herbal medicinal products is procured by the industry from wild sources, there is every possibility of vast variation of chemical constituents in the material collected from different geographical sources. In addition there is a possibility of deliberate adulteration or substitution of the genuine raw material. In such a scenario proper quality control of the herbal raw material and finished products become essential Thus, the need for development of quality standards and preparation of monographs there of can not be over emphasized.

In an effort to address this problem. ICMR initiated work on Quality Standards of Indian Medicinal plants involving laboratories of reputed institutes of the country to generate requisite data as per prescribed format for preparing monographs.

Each monograph is titled with botanical nomenclature and incorporates diagnostic macro and microscopic features, phytochemical constituents, identification by chromatographic fingerprints (TLC/GLC/HPLC). quantitative determination of the phytochemical marker using marker compound and information on pharmacological, clinical, toxicological as well as parts used, dose, adulterants/ substitutes etc.

The present 9 volume in the series of already published 8 volumes contains quality standards of 35 plants The monographs are outcome of the ICMR programme carried out at BV Patel Pharmaceutical Education and Research Development Centre. Ahmedabad Gujarat Captain Srinivasa Murti Drug Research Institute for Ayurveda, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Centre for Medicinal Plants Research, Arya Vaidya Sala, Kottakkal. Kerala and L. M. College of Pharmacy, Ahmedabad. Gujarat.

Better quality would inevitably help in raising the acceptance of Indian plant based health care products. It is hoped that the current volume like the previous volumes will be of interest to those engaged in developing various quality products from Indian Medicinal Plants Preparation of the tenth volume in the series is in progress.

One of the stumbling block in the popularity and wider acceptance of herbal drugs is the inadequacy or lack of standards. This is primarily attributed to the raw material which is not of desired quality, as required for reliable biological, pharmacological and clinical evaluation besides their use in health. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure proper safety and adequate standards along with accurate information available to those who wish to conduct research and commercialize the product outcome in this area of life science.

Indian Council of Medical Research has taken the initiative to lay down quality standards of important medicinal plants, as per WHO guidelines. Reputed institutes have been involved to evolve these standards. Vital data generated at these institutes and compilation of the requisite information from literature has resulted in the production of this volume, which is ninth in the series and deals with 35 medicinal plants.

I deeply appreciate the efforts of the chairman and the members of the various committees viz., Scientific Advisory Group, the Task Force and the Technical Review Committee as also the important role played by the investigators and the collaborative Research Institutions in bringing out this publication.

The plant based drug industry, drug testing laboratories, academicians, researchers, health professionals and regulatory authorities will find this book useful. Despite certain limitations, that these standards may have, it is a step towards improving the quality of finished products.

Lack of quality standards of the raw material has been one of the major lacuna in the wider acceptance of plant based drugs. Medicinal Plants Unit of the Indian Council of Medical Research has initiated a programme for the preparation of quality standards for herbal raw materials involving several research institutes of Country to address this problem. This programme has resulted in publication of five volumes on "Quality Standards of Indian Medicinal Plants" covering 170 plants. The present volume is 6 in this series and contain monographs on 35 plants.

The following major guidelines have been adopted in evolving the standards and preparation of the monographs.

The raw material of the plants is procured from the field, from at least three geographical locations and authenticated. The samples are worked out for their pharmacognostic and phytochemical features through experiments while the information on the distribution of the plants, vernacular names, chemical constituents. pharmacological activity, safety aspects, clinical studies if any, therapeutic claims and any other details are derived from the published literature and compiled in the form of a monograph, along with complete references of the work cited. The experiments conducted and the compiled data is subjected to careful scrutiny by the experts of the scientific committee. The information incorporated in the monographs is further supported by the photographs of the plant, the part/s of the plant used, microscopic details, the TLC details, chromatograms, etc.

**Contents and Sample Pages**