PCIM&H and IPC Sign MoU for Promotion & Facilitation of “One Herb, One Standard”

In order to achieve "One Herb, One Standard," the Ministry of Ayush has made some significant progress. In order to promote and facilitate "One Herb, One Standard," the Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy (Ministry of Ayush) and the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today in New Delhi.

In the presence of Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, Prof (Vaidya) P. K. Prajapati, Director (In-Charge), PCIM&H, and Shri Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, Secretary-cum-Scientific Director, signed the MoU.

"The primary objective of this MoU is the development of cooperative efforts between PCIM&H and IPC to promote public health by facilitating the development of harmonized Herbal drug standards," said Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, secretary, Ministry of Ayush, at the time. Harmonizing the standards to achieve "One Herb - One Standard" is logical and significant given that PCIM&H and IPC are both working toward the same goal.

By sharing scientific knowledge and drug raw materials and extracts, as well as hosting seminars, workshops, training sessions, and brainstorming sessions, this MoU will further facilitate collaboration for promoting information exchange in the area of standardizing Traditional Medicine. Monographs that fall under the "one herb, one standard" will only be published with PCIM&H's permission.

According to the MoU, the monograph(s) created by PCIM&H and IPC will be identified accordingly; IPC's involvement in each monograph will be acknowledged appropriately. The monographs' technical content will be developed jointly by PCIM&H and IPC. These monographs will therefore have the same legal standing as those that are published in the ASU&H pharmacopoeia and IP.

The Ministry of Ayush thinks that this standardization will achieve the goal of "One Herb, One Standard, and One Nation," make doing business in India easier, and boost the overall trade of Indian botanicals. It will prove to be a significant step in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat, as encouraged by the Indian Prime Minister.

The Director (In-Charge), Prof. (Vaidya) P. K. Prajapati, of PCIM&H said, "This MoU will enable the publication of monographs, which will be advantageous to all. For the purpose of choosing medicinal plants and the marker(s) that represent those plants' constituent parts, a joint committee will be established.

"This MoU is going to give all stakeholders, like manufacturers, researchers, and regulators in herbal medicine, an opportunity to get world-class monographs to be used in their respective fields," said Shri Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, Secretary-cum-Scientific Director, IPC. It's a chance for IPC to conduct more extensive research on herbal medicine, especially in the quality domain, and to advance public health.

When compared to the Indian Pharmacopoeia, the ASU&H Pharmacopoeias currently have different standards and analytical methods (IP). The "One Herb - One Standard" initiative by the Ministry of Ayush aims to resolve this ambiguity. Through this MoU, Indian Standards will be included in each monograph along with the international quality standards, bringing all Indian quality standards up to date with the international standards for the same botanicals.