Corona virus: Misleading claims of 'medicine' for the treatment of cod in India

 

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The Colonel is also gaining ground outside India, including the United Kingdom

Controversial herbal remedies are once again reported in India to be very effective against the corona virus.

The compound, called Coronal, was recently launched at an event attended by some Indian government ministers.

But there is no evidence that this 'medicine' works and misleading claims have been made about its use.

What do we know about the mixture?

It is a blend of herbs used in traditional Indian medicine and is being sold by a large Indian company called Patanjali, Coronal.

This 'medicine' first appeared in June last year and was advertised by the famous yoga guru Baba Ramdev. They presented it as a "cure" for Code 19 without any basis.

But later the Indian government had to intervene and stop its marketing. The government said there was no data to prove that it could cure the corona virus.

However, the government approved its sale as an 'immunity booster'.

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Health Minister Harsh Vardhan with Baba Ramdev at a news conference

On February 19 this year, the company held another event in which Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan was also present. The program reiterated claims that it could prevent and treat Code 19.

The Indian Medical Association, India's largest body of doctors, had criticized Dr Vardhan's presence at the event.

He termed the promotion of an "unscientific drug" in the presence of the health minister as an "insult to the people of India" and said the minister should clarify whether he supported the drug as a treatment for code 19. Of

The BBC contacted the Ministry of Health to inquire about Dr Vardhan's presence at the event, but we did not receive a response from him until this article was published.

Defending the minister's presence, the Patanjali Company had said that "they did not endorse Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) nor did they downplay the importance of modern medicine."

What claims have been made about the coronal?

The company continues to insist that its "medicine" works against code 19. "He has treated people and made them better," Patanjali managing director Acharya Bal Krishna told the BBC.

The company referred us to scientific experiments, the results of which, according to the company, have been published in several journals.

He specifically mentioned a study published in the Swiss journal MDPI in November 2020, which was based on a laboratory trial.

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India has the second highest number of corona virus cases in the world

However, this research was done on fish and nowhere did it say that there is any evidence that coronal can cure corona virus in humans.

It simply states that the results of the current pre-clinical study suggest that humans should have detailed clinical trials.

Dr Michael Head, a global health expert at the University of Southampton in the UK, told the BBC that there was a big difference between conducting pre-clinical trials in a lab and then getting formal approval for something that worked on humans.

"A lot of drugs have some potential in the laboratory, but when they are used on humans, they don't work for a variety of reasons," he says.

The human trial was conducted between May and June last year on 95 patients who tested positive for the corona virus.

Patanjali Company said that the results of the trial were published in the April 2021 edition of the journal Science Direct.

He said that among those who were given coronals, the recovery rate was much higher than those who were not given coronals, but it was a pilot study with a very small sample size.

It may be difficult to draw strong conclusions from this pilot study because the difference in recovery rate may be due to other factors as well.

Has the colonel received official approval?

In December 2020, the Patanjali Company, based in Uttarakhand, asked the state authorities to change the Coronel's existing license from "Immunity Booster" to "Code 19".

The company said in January that its product had been approved as a "supportive measure" against code.

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Many herbs and spices are used in traditional medicine

The Indian Ministry of Traditional Medicine (known as AYUSH) and Uttarakhand state officials told the BBC that a new license had been issued, but both made it clear that it was not for the "treatment" of code. ۔

Dr. YS Rawat, Director, Department of Traditional Medicine, Uttarakhand and State Licensing Authority, says, “The upgraded license means that it is sold like zinc, vitamin C, multivitamins or any other supplemental medicine. can go.'

"It's not a (coronal) treatment," he added.

The company also pointed to the fact that it has a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificate, which it says is in line with World Health Organization (WHO) certification schemes.

Rakesh Mittal, a senior executive of the company, also claimed in a tweet that the colonel had been recognized by the WHO but later deleted the statement.

GMP Certification N is from a top drug regulator in India, under a World Health Organization-recognized scheme aimed at ensuring quality of products for export purposes.

Dr. Rawat of the state government of Uttarakhand clarified that "GMP certificate has nothing to do with the efficacy of any medicine, it is only to maintain the quality of the product at the time of manufacturing".

The WHO told the BBC it had not "confirmed the efficacy of any conventional medicine for the treatment of code 19".

"There is no clear evidence yet that this product is beneficial for the treatment or protection of Code 19," said Dr. Head of the University of Southampton.