Ayurveda to get a scientific footing globally

COIMBATORE: Ayurveda ultimately has got its due. The US based National Institutes of Health has cleared the decks towards developing and consolidating long-term scientific collaborations between researchers of Ayurvedic Trust -- an offshoot of Arya Vaidya Pharmacy and top US Universities by announcing funds, which would be routed through National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
According to director of research AVP Dr P Ram Manohar, with the NIH announcement the inner strengths of Complimentary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) has received an international impetus and acceptance since the Trust now would be directly collaborating with top US scientists.
In fact, the NIH announcement is also the result of a follow up action on the joint clinical trial undertaken by World Health Organisation (WHO) and Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) between the period 1977 and 1984 to evaluate the efficacy of Ayurveda in treating rheumatoid arthritis.
Based on baseline, mid-point and end-point examination of patients who received Ayurvedic therapy for rheumatoid arthritis, WHO/ICMR had then summed up that Ayurveda was free from harmful effects and effective in treating arthritic patients.
The clinical trial revolved around various determinant factors, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate (an index to the intensity of inflammation), grip strength (which is measured through mercury column), joint counts (which tells the total number of joints affected) and walking time of patients.
"But the marker is RA factor. WHO/ICMR had observed that Ayurvedic therapy had resulted in considerable reduction of titre value which didn''t become negative though," says Dr.Manohar.
Though the clinical trial had come out with encouraging results, for reasons mysterious, there was no follow up action till the AVP managing director P.R.Krishna Kumar and Ms.Manorama Venkataraman, a research assistant professor at University of Washington decided to present the WHO/ICMR observations to experienced doctors and scientists in the US for a broader understanding of Ayurveda, which ultimately caught the attention of NIH.
"American scientists will visit our Trust later this year. They would learn more on Ayurveda, assess the Trust''s available resources and current needs, so that research projects could be conducted in conformity to the scientific and regulatory standards of NIH," says Dr.Manohar.
American scientists will soon train Ayurvedic physicians in clinical trials and grant writing. Besides, they would also develop infrastructure to facilitate collaborative research, including establishment of an IT infrastructure and quality control laboratory for Ayurvedic medicines.
"NIH is optimistic that infrastructure and other enhancements resulting from this grant will make the Trust a Centre of Excellence which would accelerate research on traditional medicines for the benefit of entire humanity," says the doctor.
Initially, a pilot clinical trial of rheumatoid arthritis comparing the efficacy of Ayurvedic treatment with its allopathic counterpart would be conducted under the direction of eminent rheumatologist Dr.Daniel Furst from University of California. While AVP Medical directors Dr.K.G.Ravindran and Dr.K.C.Narayanan will administer Ayurvedic treatment, services of an experienced rheumatologist would be availed for allopathic treatment.
Dr.Manohar confirms that rights to inventions, patenting authority and activities pertaining to licensing vest with the Trust and hence he rules out the possibility of violation of intellectual property rights/bio-piracy.
"Meticulous care has also been taken to ensure protection of human subjects. All our researchers will undergo Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) training," he says.
The mood at AVP is upbeat as they await clearance from ICMR and Institutional Review Board (IRB) to ground the project, which would put Ayurveda on a scientific footing globally.