A four-day hands-on training programme on the formulation and extraction of medicinal plants at a cGMP pilot plant began here today at CSIR-IIIM Jammu. The programme was inaugurated by Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director, CSIR-IIIM Jammu. Addressing the gathering, Dr. Ahmed highlighted the growing relevance of medicinal plant based drug discovery and the need to convert India’s rich herbal biodiversity into viable pharmaceutical and wellness products.

Earlier, the welcome address was delivered by Dr. Anil Kumar Katare, Senior Principal Scientist and coordinator of the programme. On this occasion, Dr. Rajkishor Rai, Senior Scientist and Head of the Quality Management & Instrumentation Division said the programme was designed to bridge the gap between theory and real-world herbal processing. On the first day, participants underwent laboratory orientation and an overview of instrumentation and quality management systems at the Quality Management & Instrumentation Division.

A technical lecture on medicinal and aromatic plants and their industrial relevance was delivered by Dr. Suphla B. Gupta, Senior Principal Scientist from the Plant Sciences and Agrotechnology Division. This was followed by a detailed session on GMP pilot plants for extraction, formulation and packaging of traditional ISM herbal medicines, focusing on regulatory standards and scale-up processes. The training batch comprised 15 participants from different parts of the country, including Ph.D scholars, postgraduate students, research associates and small business owners working on herbal and skincare products. Vote of thanks was presented by Dr. Suphla B. Gupta and the proceedings were conducted by Dr. Nasir ul Rasheed, Principal Scientist.