Government asks Patanjali to explain COVID-19 drug claims

New Delhi : Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved has been asked to explain their recent claim of finding a COVID-19 drug that can cure patients in time frame of 3-14 days. The company has also been ordered to stop advertising or publicizing such claims until they have been examined.

The medicines, "Coronil and Swasari", were developed based on research and trials on 280 patients across the country, Patanjali's founder Ramdev told the media today. The medicines come in the form of a corona kit priced at Rs 545. The company had announced sale of the drug in the markets from the next week.

The Ministry of Ayush asked Patanjali to provide at the earliest details like the composition of the medicines, the results of its research, the hospitals where the research was conducted, whether the company had a clearance from the Institutional Ethics Committee and whether it had registered for the clinical trials.

"Facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to the ministry," the Ayush Ministry said in a statement hours after the Patanjali launch.

The Ministry also asked them to produce the license and product approval details of the Ayurvedic medicines, which were made in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.

Meanwhile, CEO Balakrishna has claimed that they have fulfilled 100% requirements in making this drug.

"This government provides encouragement and pride to Ayurveda. Communication gap has been done away with and we have 100 per cent fulfilled all standard parameters for Randomised Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trials. We've given info for the same to Ministry of AYUSH," Mr Balkrishna was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Two police complaints have also been filed against Patanjali – one in Rajasthan and other in Haryana – for misleading people by claiming a medicine before getting an approval from ICMR.