Sami-Sabinsa Group is proud to be prime sponsors of the International Conference on Traditional Medicine & Phytopharmaceuticals (ICTMP) and the 11th International Congress of Society for Ethnopharmacology (SFEC 2024), held in Jammu last week.

Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Science & Technology, inaugurated the three-day conference.

Dr. Arvind Saklani, V.P., Agri Biotechnology, Sami-Sabinsa Group, participated as a panelist at two of the interactive sessions. At one of the sessions, the Industry Connect Business Meet program, which focused on the topic “Development of Phytopharmaceutical Drugs-Tradition to Translational," industry veterans interacted with delegates from research institutes and academia on exploring opportunities and innovative methods to discover novel phytopharmaceuticals and their market potential. The panel emphasized the need for industry-industry and industry-academia collaboration. With the industry prepared to share sector trends, academia can align their research activities to address market needs. The panelists emphasised that the Society for Ethnopharmacology could play a lead role in bridging the gap between them.

In the other interactive session on "Opportunity and Challenges in Cannabis Research," the discussions focused on the challenges faced in taking forward non-psychoactive cannabinoids (CBD) due to regulatory barriers. Though certain scientific institutes today have innovated cannabinoids-based products, challenges exist in their further development due to hinderances in the transportation of cannabis-based products from permitted States to other regions. It was realised that central government intervention would be helpful to facilitate the use of the exempted parts of cannabis, like seed and leaf. CBDs are known for their effects on inflammation, neuroprotection and cancer-related pain.

Dr. Saklani also chaired a session on Network/Reverse Pharmacology in Herbal Drug Discovery at the three day event.