Hours after a slashy launch of its claim ayurvedic treatment for the Novel Coronavirus, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. was told by the government to stop advertising or publicizing any such claim due to the lack of requisite approval of the COVID Drug Claim. The legal provisions cited in the ministry statement also indicate that Patanjali cannot sell the product as of now.
Yoga teacher Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved was on Tuesday asked by the government to furnish details of Ayurvedic medicines it launched claiming they can cure coronavirus within seven days.
The medicines, “Coronil and Swasari”, were developed based on research and trials on 280 patients across the country, Patanjali’s founder Ramdev told the media on Tuesday. The medicines come in a Corona kit priced at Rs 545, which was to be sold across India within a week.
“Patanjali Ayurved Ltd has been asked to provide at the earliest details of the name and composition of the medicines being claimed for COVID treatment; site(s)/ hospital(s) where the research study was conducted for COVID-19; protocol, sample size, Institutional Ethics Committee clearance, Clinical Trials Registry India (CTRI) registration and results in data of the study(ies) and stop advertising/publicizing such claims till the issue is duly examined,” the government said in a statement.
“The Ayush ministry has also requested the concerned State Licensing Authority of the Uttarakhand government to provide copies of license and product approval details of the ayurvedic medicines being claimed for the treatment of COVID -19,” it added.
However, Patanjali CEO Acharya Balkrishna said they have 100 percent fulfilled all standard parameters for Randomised Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trials and the information has been given to the Ministry of AYUSH.
“This government provides encouragement and pride to Ayurveda. The communication gap has been done away with and we have 100 percent fulfilled all standard parameters for Randomised Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trials. We’ve given info for the same to Ministry of AYUSH,” Mr. Balkrishna was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Two police complaints have also been filed against Patanjali – one in Rajasthan and the other in Haryana – for “misleading the public” and launching a medicine without the go-ahead from the Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR.
There is no scientific evidence of any alternative cure for COVID-19, even as vaccines are being tested by many countries. The World Health Organisation has also cautioned against such claims.
Patanjali collaborated with the privately-owned National Institute of Medical Sciences or NIMS University, Jaipur.
“With the help of NIMS, Jaipur we conducted the clinical control study on 95 patients. The biggest thing which came out of this is that within three days 69 percent of patients recovered and became negative from positive (cases) and within seven days 100 percent of them became negative,” said Ramdev.
Tests had been done on all kinds of patients except those who are highly infected and are on life support systems as ventilators, said the Yoga guru. “Trials on the infected people who are on a ventilation support system are still due,” he told the Press Trust of India.
