The Central Council of Ayurveda & Siddha have developed a new formulation, prepared from four different types of indigenously available herbs, which has been found to be very effective in the safe treatment of malaria. It has been named as Ayush-64. It has demonstrated effectiveness both in curing and prevention.

Aqueous extracts of the various parts of four different types of plants e.g. root, stem, leaf, flower and fruit are prepared in relevant proportions. From each extracts of three plants, decoction is made with water in the prescribed ratio. The decoction is boiled to reduce the volume of the extract of given level. The concentrated extract is dried after filtration.

The powders obtained from the aqueous extracts of the three plant materials and 100 mesh powder extracted from the fourth plant are mixed in the prescribed proportion alongwith some additives like starch, gum acacia, etc. and sodium benzoate. Prescribed quantities of herbal extracts in powder form & additives are fed into a ball mill for uniform mixing and the fine grinding. The mass is then granulated. The granules are dried at 70oC in a hot air drier. The granules of the desired size are fed to a heavy duty tablets making machine. The tablets are strip packed to protect them from the atmospheric moisture.

Advantages:

Extensive clinical tests have shown that the new drug has no physical or psychological side-effects. Ayush-64 can not only be more economical to the patients, it is free from side effects of any kind due to its non synthetic herbal base.

Equipment:

pulveriser, solvent extraction unit, evaporating pan, mixing machine, hot air oven, granulator, Strip packing m/c and tabletting machine.

Stage of Development: Fully developed and available commercially.

Economic Data:

A plant having capacity of producing 48000 Tablets/ Year would require an estimated investment of US $ 70,000.

Source: National Research Development Corporation