Govt asks Patanjali to stop ads of Covid drug

nNEWDELHI: The Union government has demanded clarification from Patanjali Ayurved, the company promoted by Baba Ramdev, over its claim of having developed a cure for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), and asked it to stop advertising the product till the claim is verified.

The company announced its discovery in a press conference and Ramdev, a popular yoga guru, followed it up with a spate of interview to TV channels extolling the benefits of the cure, which, if it holds up to scientific scrutiny, will be the first of its kind in the world.

“Facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to the Ministry… 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…,” said the ministry of Ayush on Tuesday.

According to Patanjali, the products have been made in association with privately owned National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Jaipur. The company also claimed the medicines cleared a clinical trial in several cities including Delhi, Ahmedabad and Meerut and the RCT (Randomized Clinical Trial) controlled with placebo at NIMS. But, no clinical testing data was released by the company. NIMS was unavailable for comment.

The approvals for manufacturing and marketing of drugs, Coronil and Swasari, have likely come from the Uttarakhand government, the state licensing authority for Patanjali in Haridwar.

The Centre has asked the Uttarakhand government for details and also ordered Patanjali to stop advertising the products.

In its response, Patanjali to the drug policy section of the Ayush ministry on Tuesday evening, giving details of its drugs trial.

“There was a 69% recovery at day 3 PCR in treatment group, and 100% recovery at day 7, which is 35% better recovery than the placebo group,” said the firm in its response that the Ayush ministry will be reviewing.