International conference on botanicals held in Kolkata

EPP News Bureau - Kolkata

The international conference on ‘‘Promotion and Development of Botanicals with International Coordination: Exploring quality, safety, efficacy and regulations’’, was recently organised by the School of Natural Product Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. The conference was jointly organised with the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata, India. The conference was partially supported by the Drug Information Association Foundation (DIA), USA.

The conference was organised with the main objective to emphasise and explore opportunities in the field of Natural Health Products development with a special focus on botanical products used in Indian system of medicines and other traditional and complementary alternative medicines. The conference highlighted the needs and requirements for research and development of natural products in general and phytomedicine in particular through international coordination and collaboration.

More than 350 delegates from 13 different countries including the scientists/ researchers from various organisations in India and abroad participated in the conference. The delegates/ participants of the conference included a variety of stakeholders: manufacturers of raw materials, phytomedicines, pharmaceuticals, dietary and food supplements; representatives of conventional and traditional health care systems; sellers and distributors; regulatory authorities; standard – setting organisations; contract laboratories and research organisations, NGOs, academicians, scientists, and healthcare practitioners.

The conference provided educational opportunities for pharmacists, pharmacognostics, physicians, phytochemists, botanists, ethnobotanists, ethnopharmacologists, pharmacologists, toxicologists and others involved in the research, evaluation, development and marketing of botanicals and natural products for use in healthcare.

Different issues on drug development from natural recourses for the promotion and development of botanicals with international coordination was discussed in seven plenary sessions scheduled for two days of the conference through 27 lectures from eminent scientists from India and abroad along with more than 150 oral and poster presentation in parallel sessions from the young scientists/ researchers from different parts of the world.

The conference was helpful for the professionals and researchers working in the field of herbal research and manufacturing botanicals.