Brainstorming Session on Anti-microbial Resistance
Held at Foundation for Medical Research on 16th April 2018
A brainstorming session was organised by the Medicinal Plants Department of FMR on 16th April, 2018, based on the mail received from Dr.Geetha Krishnan, Technical Officer, Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine Unit, WHO, Geneva. The aim of the request from WHO was to seek support in creating evidence of Traditional Medicine based interventions which shall be supportive in strategies to overcome AMR and developing well-defined pathways to integrate them into mainstream healthcare. Hence FMR collaborated with some of the investigators in India who are currently working in the area of traditional medicine with relevant partners from across the globe. They may jointly contribute to this effort by developing strategies and roadmaps for effective use of traditional medicine in countering AMR. Such a strategy / roadmap may be adopted by national and international agencies implementing health systems reforms.
The following Road Map was designed during this discussion-
- Identification of disease /Organism
- Choice of Herbals and Ayurvedic Drugs
- Resource Mapping
- Positioning of plant-based medicine as Direct /Adjunct Therapy
- Validation through multiple parameters
- Product Standardization
- Funding
- Governance Initiative
Additional issues to be addressed include the development of a database recording the work on particular formulations. Learning from the previous funding programs is also helpful. Pharmacokinetic studies should be carried out for rationalization of dosage. Multi-institutional networking amongst experts should be encouraged.
Challenges faced for Ayurvedic formulations include the following: Limited data is available on drug interactions /side effects. There is limited availability of good quality Ayurvedic products. Well conducted clinical trials (GCP) with robust evidence of safety and efficacy need to be conducted and recorded. Most importantly, greater meaningful communication between Allopathic & Ayurvedic physicians is needed.
The following persons participated in the brainstorming session:
Dr. Nerges Mistry, Dr. Tannaz Birdi, Dr. Yatin Dholakia, Dr. Manasi Gholkar, Ms. Poonam Daswani (Foundation for Medical Research)
Mr. Nadir Godrej (Godrej Industries Ltd)
Dr. Narendra Bhatt (Ayurvedic Consultant-Research & Industry)
Dr.Jaydeep Gogtay (CIPLA)
Dr. Vijay Kothari (Nirma University)
Dr. KirtiLadda(Institute of Chemical Technology)
Mr. Tetali P. (Ethno botanist- Freelancer)
Dr. Urmila Thatte (Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital)
Dr. Ashok Vaidya (Kasturba Health Society- Medical Research Centre)
