Central Drug Research Institute, CDRI

CSIR-CDRI, or, the CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute is a research laboratory in Lucknow established in the year 1951. The Central Drug Research Institute is one of the first laboratories in India set up after independence. It is one among the thirty-nine laboratories which are functioning under the aegis of CSIR, or the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in the nation. The then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru formally inaugurated the research institute on 17 February 1951. The Institute’s workforce has been grouped into 17 research and development divisions. CDRI has got scientific personnel from various areas of biomedical sciences. The mission of the Central Drug Research Institute is to discover, develop and deploy therapeutic strategies to alleviate, build, and upgrade competencies and high standards of organizational value in the upcoming requirements in the global business to improvise and strengthen the national economy. The central vision of the Institute is to have a multidisciplinary hub for drug discovery and development to serve humanity, as well as professional knowledge and wisdom.

CDRI offers Ph.D. courses in Chemical and Biological Sciences. Candidates with M. Sc., M. Pharm., M.B.B.S. are eligible to apply. They should have secured at least 55% of marks in their highest University examination, and should also have qualified either in the UGC/CSIR – NET-JRF, or ICMR – JRF, or DBT-JRF, or CSIR/ICMR/DBT-SRF.

The institute was established to help and enhance the research work in the field of drug development. The motive was to provide a one-stop solution for all individuals to work under the same roof and research in the fields related to the development of drugs. In recent times it has become a unique platform for modern drug research in the country. It has it all under one roof, from screening, synthesis, development studies, enhancing the process, up-scaling the process to the clinical studies. The Institute is invested in various research projects in the fields of drug technology. Unique achievements of the Institute include the discovery and development of twelve new drugs, out of which, Centchroman with Brand Name – Saheli, Arteether with Brand name – E-mal, and BESEB with Brand Name – Memory Sure, are sold in the market in the present times. They have invented 130 plus indigenous technologies and have passed them on to the pharmaceutical companies. And, this is considered an important contribution to the metamorphosis in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry. Till now a thousand plus research articles have been published by the institute in journals of high repute. CDRI to its name has more than 350 patents in India and 90 patents all over the world. More than a thousand Ph.D. have been produced by CDRI.

Many of CDRI’s alumni are in the highest of positions in several international and national academic institutions, biotechnology industries, and pharmaceutical industries. Padma Shri Bishnupada Mukerjee, known for his pharmaceutical research and contributions to the standardization of drugs in India, is one of the proud patrons of CSIR-CDRI. Amit Kumar Gupta, Postdoctoral Fellow at UT Health Science Center in Houston is a Ph.D. in biological sciences from CSIR-CDRI.