'Good initiative' but due process has to be followed: AYUSH minister on Patanjali's COVID medicine claim

New Delhi, Jun 24 () AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik on Wednesday said yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved coming up with medicines which it claimed were for treatment of COVID-19 was a "good initiative" but due process has to be followed.

His comments come a day after the AYUSH ministry asked Patanjali Ayurved to provide "at the earliest" details of composition and research undertaken prior to the launch of these medicines and stop advertising them until the "issue" is examined.

Naik said that documents related to the drugs and the research trial undertaken by Ramdev's herbal medicine company were sent to the ministry on Tuesday.

"The reports which were sent to the ministry on Tuesday will be examined," he said.

"At a time when everybody is grappling for a cure for COVID-19, such an initiative is definitely good and but then due process has to be followed," the minister said.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government is issuing a notice to Patanjali for launching a drug claiming to be a cure for coronavirus when it had only applied for an immunity booster against cough and fever, an official said.

The Patanjali Ayurved launched 'Coronil tablet and Swasari vati' medicines claiming they can cure the highly contagious disease within seven days.

It also claimed that the two Ayurveda-based medicines have shown 100 per cent favourable results during clinical trials on COVID-19 infected patients except those on a life support system.

However, the AYUSH ministry on Tuesday said facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to it.

Patanjali Ayurved Ltd was asked to provide details of the name and composition of the medicines being claimed for coronavirus infection treatment, information on sites or hospitals where the research study was conducted and the protocols followed, besides details of the Institutional Ethics Committee clearance and CTRI registration among others.

According to an official directive issued earlier, false claims and publicising approval of research study or product manufacturing about COVID-19 control, writing COVID-19 related claims and name of the ministry of AYUSH on the labels and containers tantamount to contravention of legal provisions.

The ministry had written to state licensing authorities or drug controllers advising them to take action against any misleading information, false claims and misbranding. PLB ZMN