Indian pharma considering manufacturing of nutraceuticals under Atmanirbhar Bharat

September 9, 2023

Going by its ability to formulate products with advanced technologies including modified drug delivery systems, sterile parenteral nutrition as well as sterile parenteral nutrition for administration through IV, blended granules and powders, Indian pharma is considering to manufacture nutraceuticals under Atmanirbhar Bharat.

According to DBA Narayana, the Indian pharma industry has the capability in improving the palatability of such products better than the imported current offerings, develop stable products for Indian and Asian population and the measurement science ability to guarantee presence of desired nutrients and absence of undesired nutrients are known. Industry can also look at producing some of these individual nutrients in a commercial scale indigenously, he added.

Lactose intolerance is well-known for decades. Difficulty to metabolize lactose due to a genetic disorder, though exists in a large population, has not been taken too seriously. However, as science and technology progressed, one of the numerous causes for fatalities of newly born infants and children have come to the forefront.

Products for infants with IEM (inborn errors of metabolism) are largely imported. There is a growing market for such products not only in India but in the whole of Asia. Innovation in this area to produce specific dietary products for individual IEM disorder babies is the need of the hour. So also, there is a need to make available indigenously such products as well as develop screening test kits and make them available at an affordable cost to the Indian and Asian population. While these are regulated under the food regulation, given the ability of the Indian pharma, this could be a fairly easy process.

IEMs are usually caused by defects in specific protein enzymes that help metabolize parts of food. Examples include organic acidurias, fatty acid oxidation defect, urea cycle disorder, mitochondrial disease, galactosemia, maple sugar urine disease (maple sugar disorder), fructose intolerance, phenyl ketone urea amongst others, he said.

Paediatricians, paediatric nutritionists and gynaecologists used to struggle in the absence of such knowledge in new born babies.

However, in the last one to two decades, scientific development has made it possible to detect in very early stages such disorders through new-born screening tests. Such infants will need to take great care throughout their life to avoid consuming specific foods towards which their body has an irregular metabolic response, said Dr Narayana.

Products for IEM, infants and children, post breast feeding from 0-6 months, 6-12 months, going up to 24 months and above these ages, are specifically required and there is an innovation opportunity for Indian pharma.  Such products are normally in powder form, blended with proteins, fats and carbohydrates, specifically for a particular IEM and to be free from specific nutrients. To site a few examples, product for maple syrup urine disease need to be free from isoleucine, leucine and valine. Product for glutaric acidemia Type 1 should be a free from lysine and tryptophan. Product for homocystinuria needs to be a diet powder free from methionine. Product for methyl melonic acidemia should be a diet powder free from methionine and propionic acid. Product for amino acid metabolic disorder is a diet powder free from protein, amino acids and without fat. All these are easy to implement for Indian pharma, said Dr Narayana.

PHARMABIZ.com