Govt. asks Patanjali to stop advertisement, seeks details of COVID-19 medicine

The AYUSH ministry asked yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved to “provide at the earliest” the composition and other details of the medicine it claimed is for the treatment of COVID-19, ordering the company to stop advertising “the product until the issue is examined”.

Patanjali Ayurved earlier launched the ‘Coronil and Swasari’ medicine, claiming it has discovered a cure for COVID-19. However, the AYUSH Ministry said the facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to it.

AYUSH ministry has asked Patanjali Ayurved to provide the details i.e. the name and composition of the medicines being claimed for coronavirus infection treatment, along with information on sites or hospitals where the research study was conducted and the protocols followed.

It has also been asked to provide information on sample size, details of the Institutional Ethics Committee clearance, CTRI registration, results data of the study and “stop advertising/publicising such claims till the issue is duly examined”.

The licensing authority of Uttarakhand government has been requested to provide copies of licence and product approval details of the Ayurvedic medicines being claimed for the treatment of coronavirus infection, the ministry said in its statement.

The ministry on April 21 had issued a notification stating the requirements and the manner in which research studies on COVID-19 with AYUSH interventions/medicines should be undertaken. The notification said at present there is no approved treatment for COVID-19 infection.

Patanjali claimed its medicine has shown 100% favourable results during clinical trials on COVID-19 patients, except those on life support systems. Launching the medicines at a press conference in Haridwar, Ramdev claimed “100% recovery rate in seven days”.

The corona kit will be made available at Rs 545, said Patanjali Ayurved MD Acharya Balkrishna, adding it will have medicines for 30 days. Patanjali claims the kit can also be taken as prevention for coronavirus. This is not an immunity booster but a coronavirus cure, Ramdev baba said.