2 NIPER's faculty members included in CDSCO's expert panel to evaluate herbal drugs

Two faculty members of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) here have been included in an expert panel set up by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to evaluate new herbal drugs for their regulatory approval.

Arvind K Bansal, the head of NIPER's Pharmaceutics Department and Saranjit Singh, the head of its Pharmaceutical Analysis Department are among the 12 experts who will evaluate the manufacturing, purification, quality control and toxicological data of the new herbal drugs, also called phyto-pharmaceuticals, said NIPER in a statement.

The expert panel is mandated to advise the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on evaluation of "chemistry-manufacturing control data" including identification, authentication and source of plants used for extraction, purification, formulation and manufacturing of herbal drugs for their approval.

The expert committee would also be engaged in the preparation of guidelines for marketing approval of new phyto-pharmaceuticals of different therapeutic categories, the NIPER's release said.

Other experts include Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research University's Vice Chancellor Ramesh K Goyal, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine Director Ram Viswakarma and IIT-BHU's Professor Siva Hemalatha of its Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering.