IT Correspondent
New Delhi, June 25:
Even as Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Uttarakhand based “Patanjali Ayurved Ltd launched ‘Coronil tablet’, ‘Swasari Vati’ and ‘Anu Taila’, claiming 100 per cent cure of Covid-19, the union AYUSH Ministry has directed his “Divya Pharmacy” to stop advertising such claims.
While AYUSH Ministry ordered stoppage of publicity of these medicines on Tuesday, the Uttarakhand Government on Wednesday denied having granted any permission for manufacture of these medicines. Similarly the Rajasthan Government denied having knowledge of clinical trials conducted at NIMS University Rajasthan (a self financed university located in Jaipur and recognized by UGC established under the NIMS University Act 2008 by the government of India). Dr Ganpat Devpura, Principal Investigator, NIMS, said that the trials were not peer reviewed and were interim. The final report was awaited. According to information, the trials were conducted only on asymptomatic patients at NIMS.
At the launch in Haridwar, Ramdev claimed that ‘Coronil tablet’, ‘Swasari Vati’ and ‘Anu Taila’ had shown “100 per cent favourable results” during clinical trials on Covid-19 patients
in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Meerut and other cities. He claimed that during clinical trials, 69 per cent patients recovered in 3 days and the recovery rate over a period of seven days was 100 per cent. He also claimed that the medicine, manufactured by Haridwar-based “Divya Pharmacy” and “Patanjali Ayurved Ltd”, is the result of a joint research of Patanjali Research Institute and National Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, NIMS University, Jaipur.
Taking cognizance of the news, The AYUSH Ministry in a statement said, “Facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to the Ministry.” The statement said that “Patanjali Ayurved Ltd” has been asked to provide at the earliest the details of the name and composition of the medicines being claimed will treat Covid-19. The information such as site(s)/hospital(s) where the research study was conducted, protocol, sample size, Institutional Ethics Committee clearance, CTRI registration and results data of the study etc should be provided and till the matter is clarified its advertisements should be stopped.
On June 2, the AYUSH Ministry had issued a circular to the principal secretaries of all states to take necessary action “against instances of misleading information, fake claims and misbranding”.
