For the first time ever since he took his first steps to become one of the best selling ayurveda and yoga entrepreneurs in the country, Ramdev, called Baba Ramdev by his followers, has been officially rebuffed by the government. Ramdev is a vocal supporter and campaigner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, hence this rebuttal of his claims to have found a ‘cure’ for Covid-19 has created a storm.
Ramdev had announced a kit containing ‘medicines’ called “Coronil and Swasari” and claimed that it had cured Covid-19 patients with 100% results in a medical trial conducted jointly by Patanjali Research Institute (Haridwar) and the National Institute of Medical Sciences (Jaipur). He was quoted by various news reports as saying, “The first clinical controlled study was conducted on 280 patients in Delhi and Ahmedabad among many other cities.”
Hours after Ramdev launched the so called ‘treatment’, the ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), put a spanner in the claims of Patanjali Ayurved. The ministry of AYUSH issued a strong statement that it was not aware of the “facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to the Ministry.” The ministry took cognisance of the news as Ramdev, and his partner Balakrishna launched the ‘Coronil drug kit’ and got wide media publicity as they made claims to cure the Covid-19. The global medical community is still researching a possible vaccine, and drug for the pandemic. It is well known that there is no specific drug to cure the infection, and most patients are being treated symptomatically, with oxygen therapy, plasma from cured patients, and other antiviral drugs under closely monitored conditions.
Ramdev though has gone ahead and launched his ‘cure’ and earned enough publicity in a few hours, even though his company has not made the Coronil kit available on its online store, or in the market yet.
“Launch of first and foremost evidence-based ayurvedic medicine for Covid-19” he tweeted from his company’s official handle.
Launch of first and foremost evidence-based ayurvedic medicine for Covid-19@yogrishiramdev @Ach_Balkrishna #Patanjali #आयुर्वेदविजय_कोरोनिल_श्वासारि pic.twitter.com/3hiyUSnZJX
— Patanjali Ayurved (@PypAyurved) June 23, 2020
The Ministry of Ayush has told Ramdev that “advertisements of drugs including Ayurvedic medicines are regulated under the provisions of Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and Rules thereunder and the directives issued by the Central Government in the wake of COVID outbreak.” In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic the Ministry had also issued a Gazette Notification on April 21, 2020 listing the mandatory “requirements” and “manner” of how “research studies on COVID-19 with Ayush interventions/medicines should be undertaken.”
Now, to verify its claims, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd has been asked to provide details such as “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, CTRI registration and results data of the study (ies).”
Most importantly till it is satisfied with the details the Ministry has said that Patanjali Ayurved Ltd must “stop advertising/publicizing such claims till the issue is duly examined. Ministry has also requested the concerned State Licensing Authority of Uttarakhand Government to provide copies of license and product approval details of the Ayurvedic medicines being claimed for the treatment of COVID -19.”
Balkrishna, MD of Patanjali, has now said that the ministry had been given all the details they have asked for. He said that 100% parameters of controlled trials have been followed and the government which encourages Ayurveda, has been informed. He called the earlier gaffe an ‘communication gap”.
“यह सरकार आयुर्वेद को प्रोत्साहन व गौरव देने वाली है जो communication gap था वह दूर हो गया है व Randomised Placebo Controlled Clinical Trials के जितने भी Standard Parameters हैं उन सबको 100% fullfill किया है इसकी सारी जानकारी हमने आयुष मंत्रालय को दे दी है”
यह सरकार आयुर्वेद को प्रोत्साहन व गौरव देने वाली है जो communication gap था वह दूर हो गया है व Randomised Placebo Controlled Clinical Trials के जितने भी Standard Parameters हैं उन सबको 100% fullfill किया है इसकी सारी जानकारी हमने आयुष मंत्रालय को दे दी है @moayush @yogrishiramdev pic.twitter.com/0CAMPZ3xvR
— Acharya Balkrishna (@Ach_Balkrishna) June 23, 2020
During the launch, Ramdev said Ayurvedic elements are being used in the tablet. “There are more than 100 compounds used in the Coronil,” he said. He said that Coronil has been made from a combination of naturally occurring immunity-boosting substances such as Mulethi (liquorice), Giloy (moonseed), Tulsi (basil) and Ashwagandha (Indian ginseng).
According to a report by India today, the Uttarakhand state licensing authority has also been asked to provide copies of the license and product approval details for Coronil. Ayush Minister Shripad Naik congratulated Ramdev on his claims and said that the Ayush Ministry will be able to take a final call only after analyzing the details and the research pattern corresponding to Coronil. The report states that , Naik said that “the ministry is trying to help Patanjali look for the cure but further details will only be clear once the procedure is followed.”
Meanwhile, on its own website Patanjali continues to offer ‘cures’ and ‘packages for Diseases’ including [with typos] :
Multiple Sclerosis
Muscular Distrophy and Handicapped Childeren
Obesity
Infertility (Bandhyatva)
Parkinsonism(Kampa-Vat)
Chronic Renal Failure
Diabetes Mellitus (Madhumeha)
Fibroid Uterus(Garbhasayarbuda)
Cataract and Glaucoma
Cancer
Mental Disorder and Migraine
The Clinical Trials Registry- India (CTRI), made mandatory by the Drugs Controller General (India) (DCGI) has said Patanjali trials are still ongoing. The CTRI ensures that “every clinical trial conducted in the region is prospectively registered with full disclosure of the trial data set items.” It states that the first enrollment for this proposed treatment was on May 29, and it is yet to be completed. It has also not been published yet.
Trials registered in CTRI are “monitored to ensure increasing voluntary disclosure of all items in the register. These items have been selected in order to: Improve transparency and accountability; Improve the internal validity of trials; Conform to accepted ethical standards.”