CSIR-CDRI (CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute), Lucknow,hosted the Capacity Building and Continuing Medical Education residential training programme from 12 to 17 September 2022 for AYUSH researchers and scientists. DrRitu Trivedi (Scientific co-ordinator) and Dr Anand Kulkarni (Executive co-ordinator) welcomed the 28 experts in traditional medicine from all over India. Dr Radha Rangarajan, Director, CSIR-CDRI, lauded the programme for bringing experts in traditional medicine and modern research under one roof.
The chief guest of the programme, Dr Viswajanani Sattigeri, Head, CSIR-Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), informed that India is home to valuable traditions and culture that have been passed through several generations over thousands of years and has a rich heritage in the health and wellness domains. Currently, a large proportion of our traditional herbal and herbo-mineral formulations are being marked as food or dietary supplements, and most of them are Over The Counter (OTC) products. In alignment with changing times and advancing technologies, we now largely rely on evidence-based medicine and rational use of traditional therapies. Modern science and modern medicine-based R&D of traditional medicines is envisaged to provide wider acceptance not only in India but abroad as well. In the context of newer R&D, matters of IPR protection arise. What are the IPR aspects related to traditional knowledge? The talk covered CSIR’s activities related to traditional and integrative research in healthcare and IPR aspects of traditional knowledge.
This six-day training programmewas designed to make traditional medicine practitioners aware of modern drug discovery research. The sessions were divided according to different aspects of drug discovery e.g. natural product chemistry, metal & pesticide toxicity, phytochemical analysis, pharmaceutics & pharmacokinetics, regulatory toxicology studies, etc. The programme also involved visits to the herbarium, GLP labs at CSIR-CDRI as well as CSIR-NBRI and CSIR-CIMAP.
