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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 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 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. |