Central Drug Research Institute is one of the first and
few laboratories that were established in India right after its independence. CDRI is among the thirty eight laboratories that are functioning under the aegis of the council of scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of India headed by the Prime Minister of the nation as its president. CDRI was formally inaugurated on 17th Feb 1951 by the then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru.
R&D activities in CDRI are supported by a modern knowledge Resource Centre which comprises a fully computerised library with a rich collection of relevant books and periodicals, on-line subscription of a large number of databases and periodicals and an Information Centre which provides many services as well as on-line response to queries. The Centre publishes value added Current Awareness Periodicals, besides providing services to the In House S&T staff as well as to academia and industry from within the country and even to overseas users
Possesses complete facilities for breeding and maintenance of laboratory animals under standard husbandry conditions. The centre houses animal strains of different species of rodents, including inbred strains of mice, rat, hamster, logomorphs and nude mice. The centre also possesses specific pathogen free (SPF) and complete germfree (gnotobiotic) rodent breeding nuclei and a facility for primate behaviour studies and primate breeding.