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Ayurveda's efficacy has been proven over thousands of years of use. More than 80% of the world population utilize natural medicine. After a long hiatus, American consumers are now rediscovering the value of these traditions and there is a very strong current for a return to natural products in food, pharmaceuticals and even cosmetics.
At the same time, sophisticated consumers are not ready nor willing to accept the risks sometimes associated with natural products. They demand that modern science and technology be applied to the manufacturing of natural products. They rightly expect a guarantee of uniform therapeutic activity. They ultimately want the best of both worlds: the wisdom and value of the ancient natural traditions with the complete safety and consistency that only modern pharmaceutical technology can provide.
Starting in 1930, The Himalaya Drug Company pioneered the scientific validation of Ayurveda, the world's oldest system of medicine. They successfully took on the task and provided the world with a complete range of safe, effective and consistent natural health products of the highest quality; the products are based on research, backed by science and produced in state-of-the-art facilities.
Today, The Himalaya Drug Company is the worldwide leader in modern, pharmaceutical-grade natural health products rooted in the rich tradition of Ayurveda. These products draw on the traditional and well proven concepts of Ayurveda while being also tested through rigorous use of modern science and technology.
Ayurvedic Concepts is proud to present America with products that are second to none in safety, efficacy and consistency, the three key criteria for achieving the highest pharmaceutical quality. These products may be taken with a high level of confidence : they offer the same guarantee of quality, safety and efficacy as chemical-based drugs without any associated side effects.
A collection of herbs does not constitute a satisfactory natural health product. Herbal formulas with the same ingredients may substantially differ in safety and efficacy depending on the way they have been processed. Rigid and specific processing rules must be adhered to in order to achieve comprehensive results without any side effects.
In such complex alchemy, herbs are combined to achieve safe and synergistic effects. One active ingredient may be buffered by others while other may play the role of adjuvants, such as to strenghten the digestive system or to help remove wastes. In general, no single active principle has the activity of the entire plant and no single plant has the activity and safety of blends carefully formulated according to Ayurvedic principles.
Therefore, the fact that certain herbs have been part of famous, multi-ingredient formulations, hardly qualifies them as "Ayurvedic Herbs" when used alone. The same is true when single plant extracts are used, even if their pharmacology as single herbs has been thoroughly investigated. The isolation of active principles violates the basic tenets of Ayurveda: when a single active principle of a plant is isolated as "standardized" extract and used as a therapeutic agent, it is no longer natural to the body and the body may react in different ways. A famous case in point is the difference between the pharmacological action of the extracted alkaloid Reserpine and the action of the whole root of the plant Rauwolfia serpentina from which the alkaloid has been extracted : both have strong hypotensive activity but medical reports show cases of depression when the active principle has been isolated from its holistic matrix.
The first step towards attaining quality and consistency is the strict adherence to the rigorous standardized procedures that are followed in the collection of every plant used in Ayurvedic Concepts' formulas. Pharmacognosy expertise is essential in order to harvest the right raw materials from the same source, in the proper season and from the same part of the plant. Proper identification and selection of each plant, proper time of the year for the harvest, proper part of the plant used are three of the most important specifications set for the collection and standardization of all natural raw materials.
In traditional Ayurveda, rigid adherence to procedures was deemed sufficient to ensure product quality and consistency without any need for further controls on the finished products. Recent changes in cultivation and in the environment and climatic conditons have introduced additional variability that may make the traditional control insufficient for quality assurance. Therefore, the modern, scientific Ayurveda promoted by Ayurvedic Concepts goes further and uses state-of-the-art analytical techniques and instrumentation to check all raw materials to ensure that the consumer obtains a product containing the correct, authentic ingredients time and again.
The processing of Ayurvedic products is very elaborate and sophisticated. Combining single herbs into a final synergistic process is as much an art as a science. This science is an integral part of the particular objective to eliminate any adverse effects and to enhance the desired effects. When processed according to the principles of Ayurveda, final products are completely free from adverse side effects and deliver all the desired health benefits in reasonable doses.
Just as the use of perfect ingredients does not guarantee a final perfect meal, the correct harvest of the raw materials is only the first step toward finished products of high quality and consistency. It is the way ingredients are processed that guarantees Ayurvedic Concepts formula's as safe, effective, and consistent. The Himalaya Drug Company scrupulously follows Ayurvedic texts for processing raw materials in modern production facilities.
Many of the processing steps involve proprietary know-how. By contracting a leading manufacturer with the greatest processing experience, Ayurvedic Concepts can guarantee adherence to the right processing techniques, which is of eminent importance in obtaining the best possible products.
The complex ingredient-processing steps mentioned above lead to intermediate materials that are in the form of extruded granules that are further processed into finished products.
Ayurvedic Concepts' formulas undergo thorough testing and quality control at both granule and final stages. Those operations are organized like any western pharmaceutical corporation with a clear separation between Production, Quality Assurance and R&D, each using up to date technology, equipment and analytical methods.
Ayurvedic Concepts' formulas are produced under the guidelines of "Good Manufacturing Practices" and, like many pharmaceutical operations, all processes are validated and all the equipments and measurement instruments used for quality control are calibrated. Documentation is generated for every production activity and all records are maintained.
The main objectives of this extensive testing are:
In addition, finished products are also tested for color and moisture content before and after compression for physical appearance and weight, disintegration time, hardness and friability as well as for stability under various conditions.
In essence, Ayurvedic Concepts has combined modern technology with traditional and valuable Ayurvedic formulas in order to guarantee their consistency : Ayurvedic Concepts' formulas have been tested extensively at various stages of their processing and are subjected to a thorough analysis using the most advanced chromatographic techniques. It is truly a "Finger Printing" operation which insures the uniformity of the formulas.
Safety, Efficacy and Consistency have been achieved
through rigorous and scientific methods :
IN CONCLUSION
No other company in the world has matched the leadership of The Himalaya Drug Company in dedicating years of work to ensure perfect implementation of all the above requirements. That relentless pursuit of perfection has resulted in The Himalaya Drug Company having only a limited product range, with enough products to cover all main health needs and with each product being a leader in its category.