Ramdev claimed the medicines were tested in clinical trials. (File)
After the government asked Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved to stop advertising medicines it launched yesterday as "coronavirus cures" until they are examined, Union Minister Shripad Naik said it is a "good thing" that the yoga teacher has given the country a new medicine but it needs proper permission from his Ayush Ministry. Patanjali sent documents related to the medicines only yesterday to the ministry, he confirmed.
"It is a good thing that Baba Ramdev has given a new medicine to the country but as per rules, it has to come to the Ayush Ministry first. They even said that they have sent a report. We'll look into it and permission will be given after seeing the report," said Shripad Naik.
"Anyone can make medicines. Anyone who wants to make medicines has to go through the Ayush ministry task force. Everyone has to send details of the research to the Ayush ministry for confirmation. This is the rule and no can advertise their products without it," the minister asserted.
Yesterday, hours after Patanjali's widely publicised launch, the ministry asked for details of the so-called coronavirus cure kit and the trials it claimed to have conducted.
The medicines, "Coronil and Swasari", come in a Corona kit priced at Rs 545, which was to be sold across India within a week.
The Ministry of Ayush asked Patanjali to provide 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.
While many nations and scientists continue to chase possible vaccines for COVID-19, there is no scientific evidence of any alternative cure for the deadly virus.
Ramdev claimed Patanjali's medicines showed "100 per cent favourable results" in clinical trials on 280 patients in Delhi, Ahmedabad and other cities. Patanjali collaborated with the privately-owned National Institute of Medical Sciences or NIMS University, Jaipur.
"With the help of NIMS, Jaipur we conducted the clinical control study on 95 patients. The biggest thing which came out of this is that within three days 69 per cent patients recovered and became negative from positive (cases) and within seven days 100 per cent of them became negative," Ramdev told reporters.