The Himalaya Drug Company & JSSU, Mysore enter into collaborative Research agreement

Research partnership aims at developing new therapeutic drugs

The Himalaya Drug Company, a leader in herbal healthcare, today signed a MoU with Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara University (JSSU), Mysore, to facilitate collaborative Research and Development in the area of developing new therapeutic drugs.   

The 5–year agreement brings together industry and academia in a partnership that leverages the academic resources and research capabilities of the JSSU and the R&D strength of Himalaya.

The agreement was signed by Mr. Ramesh Surianarayanan, Director – R&D, The Himalaya Drug Company and Professor B Suresh, Honorable Vice Chancellor, JSSU, Mysore.

Highlights of the Agreement

• The agreement to act as a framework for collaborative research and clinical trials.
• Himalaya to sponsor fellowship for Ph.D. degrees on specific areas of drug discovery for suitable candidates of JSSU.
• Himalaya to hold periodical meetings for students and supervisors with a view to facilitate knowledge transfer, resource sharing, training and exchange of ideas.
• The agreement to provide opportunity for faculty exchange programs between Himalaya and JSSU.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ramesh Surianarayanan, Director - R&D, The Himalaya Drug Company said, “Research is the backbone of Himalaya. For 80 years now, we have been passionately involved in researching herbs to develop products that are safe and efficacious. We believe that academia plays an important role in knowledge creation, ideation and innovation. By partnering with key institutions of learning, we hope to become a part of this process of discovery. 

He further added, “Educational institutions are ‘knowledge hubs’ where young minds are engaged in interesting and innovative research. Students are always excited to pursue research that could extend beyond the lab and find practical application, where it contributes towards improving the quality of life. We hope to push the boundaries of research with the objective of developing medicines that address unmet health needs.”

Professor B Suresh, Honorable Vice Chancellor, JSSU said, “Industry-academia research partnerships provide an impetus to result-oriented research. Companies are often driven by demands of the market. As a result, research focuses on specific lucrative areas and overlooks areas where potentially interesting discoveries could be made. On the other hand, students are curious and more experimentative by nature. This is a very healthy mindset for research scientists as it fuels interest in hitherto unexplored areas. In fact,
many a novel research has started in universities before being commercialized by industry."

He further added, "Industry has its area of expertise and similarly academia has its domain of excellence. By leveraging each other's expertise, we can drive research with the objective of discovering drugs that will improve the life of millions of people."

"In fact, investing in young talent and encouraging the growth of intellectual capital should be viewed as an extension of a company's CSR initiatives," he concluded.    

About the R&D Centre, The Himalaya Drug Company

The R&D Centre at The Himalaya Drug Company, Bangalore comprises of more than 100 multidisciplinary scientists who have vast experience in various disciplines of natural product research like Analytical Chemistry, Formulation and Development, Phytochemistry, New Drug Discovery, Novel Drug Delivery Systems, Pharmacognosy, Preclinical toxicology and Pharmacology, In-vitro mutagenecity, Immunology/ Virology, Clinical Pharmacology and Agriculture.

The R&D team at Himalaya conducts studies on natural products to determine the efficacy of herbs, authentication of herbs, standardization, isolation of new molecules, structure elucidation and stability studies, safety and efficacy in preclinical as well as clinical situations. The Himalaya R&D Centre is recognized by the Department of Science and Technology and also approved by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka for conducting research. It also has to its credit, various certifications like ISO-14000, ISO-9001: 2000 etc.

About The Himalaya Drug Company

The Bangalore based Himalaya Drug Company was formed in 1930 with a vision to bring Ayurveda to society in a contemporary form. Since its inception, the company has focused on developing safe, natural and innovative remedies that will help people lead richer, healthier lives. Today 80 years later, Himalaya’s products have found remarkable acceptance with over 300,000 doctors around the globe and consumers in over 70 countries.

The legacy of researching nature forms the foundation of Himalaya’s operations. Himalaya has pioneered the use of modern science to rediscover and validate its herbal formulations. Cutting edge technology is employed to create pharmaceutical-grade herbal products.

Himalaya has launched a wide range of products in the categories of pharmaceuticals, personal care, and animal health. The company is presently working on herbal medicines for various tropical diseases, terminal illnesses like cancer and AIDS and lifestyle related disorders. Himalaya has for filed 83 patents in the pharmaceutical and personal care domains.
Himalaya continues to expand its global presence entering new markets and consolidate its position in present markets, through offices in Bangalore, Dubai, Grand Cayman, Houston, Johannesburg, Riga and Singapore.