ASHWAGANDHA (WITHANIA SOMNIFERA) – HISTORICAL ASPECTS, CURRENT LITERATURE, MONOGRAPHS, NEWER INDICATIONS AND DELIVERY SYSTEMS

The present review on Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is divided into four Sections. Ancient scriptures and broad claims therein form Section I. Section II comprises comparison of selected monographs. There are large numbers of review articles and treatie as well as books written on Ashwagandha, a segment of which is referred to in Section III. It is surprisingly significant that Ashwagandha is the subject matter of innovative indication and innovative delivery dosage forms and combination in the current times world over. US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and leading researchers in many countries of the world have studied Ashwagandha for its wide and advanced therapeutic indications. However, it is not surprising that research on Ashwagandha and its potential is rather poor in its country of origin, i.e. India. Aggressive NGO-led campaign using the Anti-benefit generation oriented BDA (Biological Diversity Act, 2002) coupled with excessive interpretation of non-patentability using TKDL (Traditional Knowledge Digital Library) and over-interpretation of Section 3(p) of the Indian Patents Act, 1970 has led to diminishing interest in advance research on Indian herbs including Ashwagandha, as is seen from the comparison of the patent literature between research in India and overseas countries as seen from section IV.