Farmacopia Herbal Private Limited (FHPL), an Ahmednagar-based firm, has introduced a mixture of different herbs in powdered form with Neem leaves as a major ingredient, which can be used to prepare a beverage like tea or coffee. `Ayur-Neem', as the product is known, will not only refresh the drinker like tea or coffee but also act as medicine, claimed Ashok Kale of FHPL. He was addressing a press conference in a city hotel on Friday evening. Ayur-Neem will be launched in Mumbai on March 15, Kale said.Kale said he got the idea of manufacturing such a product from Jay Ram, a United States-based agricultural research scientist, who has been experimenting on Neem for over 20 years. Ram, also the former director of Triades Agricultural Research Station, Hawaii, told reporters that the Neem tree has been named`The tree for solving global problems' by the US National Academy of Sciences.

Ram said the product, launched in the US two years back, was outselling everything else in America. ``Americans are using it for internal as well as external disorders. It stimulates the immune system and has appealed to people to a great extent. Neem cannot be had in a raw form for its bitterness and hence, we have added other herbs to it,'' he said.

On the controversy regarding patenting of products like basmati rice and turmeric, Ram said he was not interesting in getting a patent for the product from the US. Kale, however, did not say if would apply for an international patent.

The product is available in the form of tea bags. A dip-bag weighing about 2.5 grams each can be used for a cup. There is no need to add milk and sugar. The drink can be had many times a day and does not have any side effects, he claimed.

`Ayur-Neem' is priced at Rs 75 for 50 gm and will be available at all leading stores in Mumbai. Thoseinterested can contact Kale at 21, Kisan Kranti, Station Road, Ahmednagar; tel: 0241-359035, fax: 0241-353553.