Today :
23/03/2023 09:46:36 AM
Government Ayurvedic, Unani Pharmacy & Drug Testing Laboratory
Drugs Testing Laboratory was established at Govt. Ayurvedic and Unani Pharmacy, Nanded under the “Central Scheme for Strengthening the Pharmacies and Establishment of Drugs Testing Laboratories and Herbal Garden ” in the year 1981. The laboratory started with meager facilities, has in due course been developed in a well equipped laboratory of National Standard. The purpose was to test the quality of Ayurvedic and Unani drugs prepared in the pharmacy and their raw materials used.
In the beginning as there were no standards laid down for these drugs and no pharmacopoeia available the main aim of lab was to evolve first the tests for quality control of drugs by way of research. Hence orientation of lab was not only drugs testing lab rather it is drug research lab. Since establishment the researches were carried out on various projects and the tests for quality control of pearls, honey, gulvelsatva, gold etc were evolved and established. The standards of Ayurvedic and Unani medicines manufactured in the pharmacy were also established and being practiced. Newer tests for assessing the quality of Ayurvedic drugs with respect to Ayurvedic principles were developed in the lab. The “Zero Optical Density Test”, “Hundred Granule Weight Test” are among those tests. The projects completed includes ‘Preservation of Ayurvedic Raw Materials by Opposite Veerya Principle’, ‘Antihaemorrhagic Activity of Lantana Camara’, Dantdhavankashta and Amylase Activity’, ‘Standardization of Tribhuvankirti’, ‘Spectral Standardization of Ayurvedic and Unani Drugs and Raw Materials’ etc. In the year 1999 the lab was sanctioned with the “Central Scheme for Development of Pharmacopoeial Standards of ISM Drugs” under which 14 monographs for Ayurvedic/Unani Pharmacopoeia were developed and submitted to APC committee. In the year 2003 the Central Scheme for Up gradation of State Drug Testing Laboratories was sanctioned which was amounting to Rs. 79.04 lakhs. Under this scheme various sophisticated instruments like High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC), Gas Chromatograph (GC), High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Digital Refractometer, Moisture Balance, Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS), UV-VIS Spectrophotometer etc were purchased. With these analytical instruments the lab is presently engaged in developing GC and HPLC fingerprinting pattern of Plant medicines.Recently Food and Drugs Administration, Govt. of Maharashtra have approved this lab as a “Public Testing Laboratory” making it open for testing the samples of private pharmacies and researchers.Moreover under the scheme to carry out animal experimentation the Animal House was built, attached to lab, which has been duly approved by CPCSEA, a National Level committee.
The laboratory is being used by the postgraduate students of Govt. Ayurvedic College , Nanded for carrying out research work for M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. Dept. of AYUSH, Govt. of India, New Delhi has duly accredited this DTL. Also it has been approved as a Research Center by. S.R.T. Marathwada University Nanded.
The staff of laboratory includes one Chemist-cum-Pharmacist acting as Head of DTL since establishment. The subordinate staff includes one Assistant Scientific Officer-cum- Vaidya and Assistant Scientific Officer-cum-Hakim along with an Electrician and two attendants.
