Leading drug makers of the country are making foray into herbal medicines as demand of such medicines is rising significantly both in local and international markets, industry insiders said. Industry people observed that scopes to exploit the untapped herbal medicine now draw investors into the segment.
The government had recognised herbal medicine as the fifth medicinal system in 2005 after the allopathic, homeopathic, ayurvedic and unani healing systems aiming to diversify the country's export basket.
Nineteen advanced drug manufacturers (allopathic) have taken approval from the office of the director general of drug administration to produce herbal medicine in the mean time. Over 20 companies have lined up for licences from the drug administration to manufacture such medicines to exploit business potentials in the sector.
Square Herbal and Nutraceuticals, an endeavour of Square Group, is a pioneer in this sector. Other licensed companies are: The Acme Laboratories, Modern Herbal Pharmaceuticals, Drug International, Radiant Herbal and Nutraceuticals, Chemico Laboratories, Drug International Laboratories, Chemist Laboratories, Axtract Laboratories, S B Laboratorirs, APS Laboratories, Ibney Husum Nutraceuticals etc.
According to the information of the office of drug administration, five companies have already started production of herbal medicine. They are: Square Herbal and Nutraceuticals, Drug International, Radiant Pharmaceuticals, Acme Laboratories and Modern Herbal Laboratories. Rest of the companies who got licence have almost completed formalities for starting production.
Food supplement, medicine of liver diseases, cough, hypertension etc are the initial production of herbal items produced by the traditional medicine manufacturers.
Plant's seeds, berries, roots, leaves, bark or flowers are generally used for preparing herbal medicines. In other words, if the main ingredient is derived from herbs, the cure will fall under herbal medicine.
"The herbal medicine market is huge -- both locally and internationally. The global herbal medicine market is growing at 15-20 per cent every year -- the highest growth is being seen in the US and Germany," said MM Asad Ullah, group product manager of Square.
"It is being mainstreamed gradually, as people are relying more and more on herbal medicines," Asad Ullah added. "We have opted for herbal medicine with an aim to tap the local demand and export potential. The global market for herbal medicine is huge and many people in the West are showing growing interests," said Newazur Rahman, general manager (Marketing) of Modern Herbal Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Mr Rahman, however also said, "In many countries, herbal medicine is taken as food or herbal supplements, as their side effects proved to be next to nothing.""Earlier, we have planned to market the herbal items in the local market but as demand for the medicine is becoming popular significantly over the world also, so we are now focusing on export of the herbal medicine to both developed and developing countries." he added.
"A new avenue for herbal medicine has opened up as many investors are looking for venturing in making such medicines," assistant Director of directorate general of drug administration Md Ruhul Amin told the FE Thursday.
To push the sector forward, the drug administration has recently set a definition for herbal medicine and selected a set of reference books for manufacturers to follow while making herbal medicines.
The regulator has also finalised testing criteria to boost the sector and expedite the process of giving approval to the prospective licence seekers.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), as many as 80 per cent of world population rely on traditional medicines for their primary healthcare and remedies, and the use of traditional medicines is rising in the developed economies such as Europe and America.
At present, China and India supply bulk of the plant drugs demand to the global market. In Bangladesh, demand for herbal medicine is also on a significant rise.
Industry insiders said allopathic pharma market in Bangladesh is worth around Tk 4,000 crore, while the market size for herbal medicines including Ayurvedic and Unani stands at around Tk 1,000 crore.
Herbs and plants have been used in many parts of the world for medicinal purposes for millenniums. But use of herbal cures began declining since early 19th century when chemical analyses were introduced and scientists started extracting and modifying the active ingredients of herbs and plants.
Later, chemists developed their personalised versions of various plant compounds and over time, the use of herbal medicine diminished even further. In recent times, herbal medicines once again made a comeback in many countries including developed ones, as improvements in analysis and quality control along with advances in clinical research have proven the value of herbal medicine in treating and preventing diseases.
Bangladesh also looks forward to develop the herbal medicine sector, although uses of traditional medicine in the country have a long history, demographically as well as geographically.