Ayurvedic drugs firm gets notice

THE COMPANY HAS ALSO CLAIMED THAT ITS PRODUCT IS ‘THREE TIMES BETTER THAN REMDESIVIR’

NEW DELHI: A show-cause notice has been issued to a Rajkot-based ayurvedic drugs manufacturer for allegedly making a misleading claim that its product ‘AAYUDH advance’ is the “first clinically tested medicine for COVID-19 management and treatment”, an AYUSH Ministry statement said.

The company has also claimed that its product is “three times better than remdesivir and that ‘AAYUDH Advance starts where vaccines stop’.”

Acting on a letter from the AYUSH Ministry, the show cause notice has been sent by the joint commissioner (Ayurveda) of the Food and Drug Control Administration of Gujarat.

The drugs policy section of the AYUSH Ministry directed the Ayurvedic Licensing Authority of Gujarat to initiate strict action against the company that has made such misleading claims, the statement said.

In a letter issued on April 18 by S R Chinta, Deputy Advisor the drug policy section of the AYUSH Ministry, the joint commissioner of the Ayurvedic Drugs Licensing Authority of Gujarat was asked to take strict and immediate action against M/s Shukla AsharImPex Pvt Ltd Rajkot.

The letter from the ministry pointed out grave misconduct on the part of the company regarding drug formulation-related claims.

Citing the ayurvedic rule book, the letter said the formulation was “violating section 33 EEB which puts a particular drug in ‘misbranded, adulterated and spurious’ category”.

The ministry’s letter has also mentioned that the said drug was violating section 33EED for not having the therapeutic value as claimed by the manufacturer causing public grievance.