Patanjali's Coronil not tested on severe COVID-19 patients; clinical trial only for mild cases

Baba Ramdev's Patanjali has not tested Coronil, its medicine for coronavirus, on any severe coronavirus patient. According to research papers submitted to AYUSH Ministry, the clinical trials were conducted only on 120 asymptomatic, mildly symptomatic and moderately symptomatic patients between the 15 - 80 year age group.

Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Research Foundation Trust also informed the ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) that the clinical trials were conducted at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (NIMS) University, Jaipur, Rajasthan. The company also said it had followed the government directives and kept the director general, Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences informed about the trials on June 4.

Patanjali's response came after the Ministry of AYUSH took cognisance of the news about ayurvedic medicines developed for treatment of COVID-19 by Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, Haridwar (Uttrakhand) and said that it was unaware of the facts of the claim and details of the scientific study.

The first patient for clinical trial was enrolled on May 29. Patanjali claims that 69 percent of the patients showed recovery on Day 3 PCR tests and 100 percent recovery on test conducted on the 7th day, which was 35 percent better recovery than the patient group on placebo. The results will be uploaded on the central clinical trial registry soon, it said.

The study was meant to see the impact of traditional ayurvedic treatment regime on COVID-19 through an interventional, randomised, parallel group, placebo controlled, single centric trial, the letter to AYUSH ministry said. The treatment regime was identified after screening close to 1000 phytochemicals from more than 100 medicinal plants, in sillico. "We looked for their binding affinities to COVID-19 essential proteins and host protein interactions. We have discovered that natural phytochemicals in ashwagandha, giloy and tulsi have potential to combat COVID-19 and its pathogenecity", it states. The primary outcome of the study was assessed by measuring virological clearance as measured by RT PCR for nasopharageal swab at baseline on 3rd, 7th and 14th day, it claimed.

The AYUSH ministry had on June 22 asked Patanjali Ayurved Ltd - the company that announced the launch plans of the products - to provide the name and composition of the medicines being claimed for COVID treatment; sites/hospitals where the research study was conducted for COVID-19; protocol, sample size, Institutional Ethics Committee clearance, CTRI registration  and results data of the study. It also asked the company to stop advertising/publicising such claims till the issue is examined. The ministry also wanted the 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.

Also read: Coronavirus treatment: Patanjali submits 'Coronil' research documents to Ayush ministry