The Union Ministry of AYUSH has taken suo moto cognizance of the media reports about Ayurvedic medicines developed by Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. for treatment of Covid-19.
The Ministry has clarified that facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to it, are uncorroborated and it has therefore asked the company to stop advertising such claims.
The Ministry has asked the company to refrain from making such claims until they are duly verified by the concerned authorities.
It has informed the Company that such advertisements of drugs, including Ayurvedic medicines, are regulated under the provisions of
Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and Rules thereunder. Meanwhile, the Ministry has also requested 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.
For the purposes of verification, the Government has asked Patanjali Ayurved to disclose:
- 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;
- protocol, sample size, Institutional Ethics Committee clearance, CTRI registration and results data of the study(ies).
It may be noted that the Ministry had issued a Gazette Notification on April 21, 2020, stipulating all the requirements and the manner in which the research studies on COVID-19 have to be undertaken, with Ayush interventions/medicines.
