Indian herbal treasures not yet tapped - Says Expert

Chennai, 22nd October 2011: While delivering the Dr.T.R.Govindachari Memorial Lecture under the auspices of the Madras Science Foundation, Chennai, Prof. S.P. Thyagarajan, Pro-Chancellor (Research), Sri Ramachandra University, spoke on the potential of Indian herbal garden and emphasized the need for focussed research to unravel the health benefits of herbal principles. His lecture dwelt around one of his favorite plants, namely Phyllanthus amarus (traditionally known as “Kizhanelli”) whose plant principles were subjected to extensive research and resulted in an indigenous drug for the treatment of chronic jaundice, called Hepatitis-B.

Prof. G.Thyagarajan, President of the Madras Science Foundation welcomed the gathering and spoke on the extraordinary research contributions made by Dr.T.R.Govindachari, who is considered as the father of natural products chemistry research in India. Dr.T.R.Govindachari’s institutional capacity building and leadership research at the CIBA Research Centre (Mumbai), SPIC (Chennai) and Amrutanjan (Chennai) were phenomenal. His outstanding research contributions on the Neem Natural Products including the discovery of several new azadiractins and other terpenoids have eluded the efforts of scientists for decades.

There is a commonality between Dr.T.R.Govindachari and Dr.S.P.Thyagrajan, said Dr.M.Balasubramanyam, Secretary of the Madras Science Foundation & Senior Scientist at the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. “Today, everyone is talking about bench-to-bedside translational research. This is what was accomplished by these two researchers a long time ago. While Dr.Govindachari’s contributions resulted in the marketing of ‘NEEMGOLD’, neem-based insecticide, Dr.Thyagarajan’s research paved the way for the marketing of ‘VIROHEP’, an indigenous, cost-effective drug for treating hepatitis-B” he added.

‘Drug from phyllanthus amarus is a major breakthrough because this is one plant that has been scientifically evaluated in our country and is accepted the world over. In India, there is a wealth of information available in the traditional ayurveda and siddha branches of medicine. But the problem is we have not bothered to study them scientifically,’ Dr Thyagarajan said. It was not an easy journey for Dr Thyagarajan. He got acceptance and support only after international scientists, particularly Dr Baruch Blumberg, who won the Nobel Prize for discovering the hepatitis B virus, accepted his findings. Dr.Thyagarajan has also secured national/ international patent for this discovery on the name of University of Madras, bringing financial benefits to the University.

The organization of ‘Dr.T.R.Govindachari Memorial Lecture’ by the Madras Science Foundation was very much significant this year, as it is celebrated as ‘International Year of Chemistry’. Dr.M.Balasubramanyam, Secretary of the Madras Science Foundation proposed vote of thanks.

For more information pl. contact Dr.S.P.Thyagarajan, Pro Chancellor (Research), SRU 98400 46575, T.G.Nallamuthu, Consultant, Media Relations, 9444265578.