The facility would greatly benefit drug developers in the private sector. They would get all biologically active compounds isolated from Indian medicinal plants under one roof, for further use. Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Dr J.S. Yadav, Director of IICT, said the Rs 24-crore National Facility for Combinatorial Natural Products would have state-of-the-art equipment for drug development from plant products. It was being developed with financial assistance from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research).
The facility will also house a bank that can preserve up to a million compounds. It would have automatic storage and retrieval facilities using advanced robotic technologies. The IICT is also setting up a national facility for analysis of herbo metallic products using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF). This would help determine the nature and extent of metals present in herbal products and preparations. Dr Yadav said this would go a long way in establishing good manufacturing practices in herbal-based preparations.
