Keralam’s reputation in ayurveda needs to be translated into business opportunities: Experts at Bio Connect 4.0

Trivandrum / October 9, 2026

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct. 09: Keralam’s strength and reputation in the science of Ayurveda needs to be translated into a viable business model through better standardisation processes and by bridging the gap between academia and industry, said panelists at a session at the International Life Sciences Industries Conclave, Bio Connect 4.0, here today.

In a panel discussion on the  Prospects of Ayurveda, experts deliberated on how Kerala’s strength in Ayurveda can be leveraged to develop more plant-based medicines by taking up programmes to enhance availability of raw materials and improving the standardisation procedures.

Dr. Sanjeev Kumar (Former Senior Research Officer, DSU, Government Ayurveda College); Dr. DG Namboothiri (General Manager of Research and Development (R&D), Sreedhareeyam Ayurvedic Eye Hospital & Research Centre); Dr. Ashish GR (Principal Scientist, Vaidyaratnam); Dr. Sujith Ernaezhath (Chief Executive Officer, Incubation Centre for Ayurveda Innovation and Entrepreneurship); Dr. Yadu Mooss (Executive Director, Vaidyaratnam Group) and Dr. Rajmohan V (Associate Professor, Government Ayurveda College) participated in the panel discussion.

Dr. Vaidya Prasad (Director & Chief Physician, Sunethri Ayurvedashram & Research Centre), anchored the session.

“Keralam is the cradle of Ayurveda; our Western Ghats is home to more than 900 species of medicinal plants, however our strength in Ayurveda is not completely translated into industrial scale due lack of lack of raw materials, observed Dr Sanjeev Kumar.

Ayurveda should emerge as a major player in public health system and there needs to be a systematic approach to leverage the potential of ayurveda by evidence-based integration, noted Dr. Rajmohan V. Now, Keralam is facing a shortage of classical ayurvedic medicine which was its strength. This issue needs to be addressed and also make efforts to meet the global demand by bridging the gap between industry and ground level ayurvedic practitioners and their knowledge in the domain, he added.

“Though strong on the science side of ayurveda, Keralam lacks the competitive edge on the business side. We should create a Material Safety Data Sheet of ayurvedic products made in Kerala with help of labs and other institutions, which will help us export these products, “said Dr. Sujith Ernaezhath

Dr. DG Namboothiri said that standardisation of Ayurvedic medicines needs to look beyond the traditional parameters and focus on the physical, chemical and botanical parameters. We need to think about synthetic cultivation of raw materials to tackle the availability issue, he added.

The challenge in standardisation of ayurvedic therapies is that the practitioners often go by personalised methods based on the diagnosis of the problem, based on core concepts. So it is time that the practitioners shifted to standardising thought process rather than the personalised prescription model, observed Dr. Yadu Mooss.

Dr. Ashish GR said that quality control aspect of raw materials and process used in making medicines is important in ayurveda.

Ends