Just hours after yoga guru Baba Ramdev claimed that Patanjali has discovered a medicine to ‘beat’ the novel coronavirus, the Ayush Ministry while asking Patanjali not to advertise Coronil as a COVID-19 cure drug also clarified that the licence issued was not to find a cure for coronavirus. The license was issued only for the production of immunity booster kits and fever medicine.
The AYUSH Ministry said that it has taken cognizance of news media reports about Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, Haridwar developing an Ayurvedic medicines for the treatment of COVID-19 and said the company has been asked to “stop advertising/publicising such claims till the issue is duly examined”.
Dr. YS Rawat, Joint Director State Medicinal Licensing Authority from Uttarakhand said: “Divya Pharmacy did not apply for license of any kind of medicine related to Corona nor were they given any license in this regard. The license was issued only for immunity booster kits and fever medicine. But now that it has come to the attention of the AYUSH department, a notice will be issued to Divya Pharmacy. It their reply is not satisfactory then their current licenses will be canceled.”
In a release, the Ministry said that Patanjali Ayurved has been asked to provide details of the name and composition of the medicines, places where the research study was conducted. Also, protocol, sample size, Institutional Ethics Committee clearance, CTRI registration and results from data of the study has been asked to be submitted.