Lecture: ‘Research into region’s flora key to cheaper medicines’

MUZAFFARABAD:

The floral wealth of the country, especially high altitude plants, can be used to extract medicines for many ailments. This was said by Prof Dr Iqbal Chaudhary at a talk titled “Cost Effective Drug Discovery and Development - Need of a Paradigm Shift’ at University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJKU) on Sunday.

The professor, who is the director of Karachi University’s International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, stressed that ethnonotanical research (studying relationship between people and plants) into a natural product’s chemistry may lead to the development of newer drugs, leading to independence from the monopoly of multinational pharmaceutical companies.

A large number of faculty members and students of AJKU attended the lecture. They were later briefed about different programs chalked out by the department to celebrate International Year of Chemistry (IYC) 2011.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 4^th,  2011.