SPC to come up with first volume of Siddha Pharmacopoeia in six months

Wednesday, August 16, 2006 08:00 IST Gireesh Babu, Chennai

The Siddha Pharmacopoeia Committee (SPC) is planning to publish the first volume of Siddha pharmacopoeia and the second volume of Siddha formulary within six months, ending up the apprehensions of the industry on export opportunities.A meeting of the committee to discuss the mode of operations for actual preparation of Pharmacopoeia and formulary will be held on 19th August, at Central Research Institute (CRI) Chennai, according to Dr C N Deivanayagam, Chariman of SPC and Scientific Advisory Committee (Siddha) of Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS).The nine-member committee has selected three sub committees of Siddha experts for setting up of the standards. The SPC will allot responsibilities to each of these nine-member committees on preparation of pharmacopoeia and formulary, in the forthcoming meeting. The committee targets to collect material data for pharmacopoeia within the next four months, and will come up with the second volume of formulary laterally, he added."Though we had a meeting to create the basic infrastructure and for the formation of the sub-committees by April, the forthcoming meeting will be considered as the first meeting of the SPC in terms of actual preparation of pharmacopoeia and formulary," Deivanayagam told Pharmabiz.As Pharmabiz reported earlier, lack of adequate standardization protocols for Siddha System of Medicine has forced the Siddha drug manufacturers to follow the Ayurveda Pharmacopoeia, hence creating apprehension in export expectations of Siddha drug manufacturers for its unique formulations. Though many of the formulations developed in the system are identical to Ayurveda formulations, most of the meluku preparations and some of the raw materials require its own standards, as they are unique to the Siddha systems of medicine.The SPC was constituted by the government in 1975 with objectives to prepare a draft copy of Siddha Pharmacopoeia, to lay down standards of single drugs for the preparation of Siddha drugs, to lay down test of identity, quality and purity and to look after such matters which are incidental and necessary for the preparation of Siddha drugs.The major achievement of the 30-year-old Siddha Pharmacopoeial Committee is the publication of a Siddha Formulary of India Part I, with 248 commonly used formulations.