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HomeHealthCoronil got approval to treat cough and fever, but Patanjali sold it...

Coronil got approval to treat cough and fever, but Patanjali sold it as ‘Covid cure’

Uttarakhand drug licensing body says Patanjali must prove how drug can treat Covid or lose Coronil licence. Patanjali spokesperson says everything is submitted according to govt rules.

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New Delhi: Patanjali’s Coronil, which the company’s founder Baba Ramdev has touted as a cure for Covid-19, was approved for boosting immunity and treating cough and fever and not as a treatment for coronavirus, ThePrint has learnt.

The state licensing authority (SLA) of Uttarakhand, which falls under the Ministry of AYUSH, is now ready to shoot off a letter to the Haridwar-based Patanjali Ayurveda in connection with its bid to brand Coronil as a cure for Covid-19.

The company faces charges under two Acts, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, if proved guilty of making a false claim, the SLA told ThePrint.

“We will be sending a letter to Patanjali by the end of the day today. We haven’t approved the product for Covid-19 but only to boost immunity and treat cough, fever,” Dr Y.S. Rawat, joint director, SLA, Uttarakhand, said over a call Wednesday. 

Covid-19, which has triggered a pandemic around the world, currently has no proven cure.

“The company has to either prove how the drug could treat Covid-19 or else roll back the claim. Otherwise, we will suspend or cancel the licence given to Coronil,” he added.

Patanjali Ayurved spokesperson S.K. Tijarawala, however, told ThePrint that “everything is submitted well in order and as per the rules laid down by the government”.


Also Read: Patanjali intent behind ‘Covid cure’ not wrong but should’ve followed protocol: Ayush minister


How was the drug approved? 

The company applied for drug approval through an application dated 10 June. “The company had submitted the documents, as per the protocol including the formulation sheet (explaining the formula used to manufacture the drug), testing protocol (to check the efficacy of the drug) and label claim (which mentions that for what conditions the drug will be sold),” Rawat said. 

The department, he added, followed the standard procedure for drug approval, “where an expert committee considered the application and approved the drug on 12 June”.

“We had informed the company on the same day about the application clearance,” he said, adding that “the application was not complicated”.

“The drug is made of ashwagandha, giloy and tulsi. While the first ingredient is known for immunity-boosting properties, tulsi and giloy are given for treating cough and fever, respectively,” he added. 

Sections under which Patanjali could be booked 

The company could be charged under three sections of the two aforementioned Acts. According to Rawat, the firm is under the scanner for allegedly promoting the product with claims of “having magical properties” to cure Covid-19, labeling the product with misleading information, and advertising the products with misleading information. 

“The letter, which we will dispatch in sometime, charges the company for breaking the rules under Section 161 and Rule 170 of Drugs and Cosmetics Act,” he said. 

The charges, the officer said, pertained to “misleading consumers by printing wrong information on the label and… for inappropriate advertisements”. 

“The company will also be booked under Drugs and Magic Remedies Act (if proved guilty) as the company claims to ‘cure’ Covid,” he added.

The SLA will also be responding to a letter received from the Union Ministry of AYUSH Tuesday, where the latter had sought a response on the categories under which the drug was approved.

“We will send the same letter to the ministry to showcase our action against the company.”


Also Read: Just 45 healthy cases, interim results, no peer review ⁠— how Patanjali found ‘Covid cure’


 

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30 COMMENTS

  1. Theres only one mistake Patanjali (the co) did. Trying to advertise an Ayurvedic medicine as a cure for Viral disease – they probably forgot or wanted to tap peoples ignorance on this matter that Ayurveda has no germs and microbe theory, instrad it corrects the bodys imbalances – Vata, Pitta and Kapha and their various combinations – Ojass, Tejass etc. This way or that way, cure was certain. In fact, Coronil contains Ashwagandha, Tulsi and Giloy – all three known for their anti inflammation (read anti viral and anti pyretic) properties. All fevers (be known by any pet names, seasonal fever, swine, bat, monkey, rat, camel or mosquito fevers) all of them are cytokine storms of the body and the so called viruses are not something that come and attack bodies frm outside – rather they are the solvents the body creates to excrete toxins from time to time.

    To cut a long story short, if not attached to the new pet name of seasonal fever, Coronil could have done wonders silently for the current cytokine storm people are facing. The mistake they did is that they tried to deviate from Ayurveda principles. If stayed on course, general public would have done its marketing themselves and Govt couldnt have done anything legally.

    I have myself seen hundreds benefitting out of various combinations of Ashwagandha, Tulsi, Giloy, Indian Borage/Mexican Mint (Karpooravalli/patarchoor) Oregano/Azwain, and Triphala – all of them known for their anti inflammation and cure for severe cough and breathlessness etc.

    Virus hunting is a new lucrative business associated to which are the huge scare mongering – hand sanitisers, room disinfectants, gloves, PPEs, masks, ventillators,inflated hospital bills ….. going on. Else a country that didnt even make a flyover expansion joint or a raincoat or even a zipper properly, is now making positive airway pumps (they call it ventilators without understanding what an original ventillator is) and PPEs. This is all happening because there is no one to call out nonsense at its face.

    • Ayurveda does not correct any imbalance. That was only the belief of its authors who did not have a proper understanding of disease. All the humor theories (Vata, Pitta and Kapha) were developed before science, world-wide. Science basically debunked all of them. Ojass, Tejass etc are just vague ideas. So no, Ayurveda does not cure anything.

      All the claims that Ashwagandha, Tulsi and Giloy have effective medicinal properties are basically bad research and are not accepted by the scientific community at large. There is no evidence of them working. There is are no strong trials that prove it, just small, badly done studies.

      After displaying ignorance of the history of medicine and current evidence, you then veer off into stating personal anecdotes that no scientific person places any value on and attach the usual conspiratorial theories that all pseudoscience supporters use to scare the public, that this is a business only, scare mongering etc. No this pandemic is quite serious and it has only begun.

      I repeat: Ayurveda has no good answers for anything. It is a really confused system at this time. Many things said in Ayurveda are downright ridiculous. It is only used in India because of association with religious beliefs and lack of understanding of science.

      I am calling out this nonsense of Ayurveda.

      • Sashya is giving wrong informations about ayurveda because of ignorance. I and my family are using only patanjali medicines for all diseases since the last 13 years. We have not gone to a doctor or have used any allopathic medicines.

      • Sashya is giving wrong informations about ayurveda because of ignorance. I and my family are using only patanjali medicines for all diseases since the last 13 years for all ailments

  2. Bogus claim on Covid-19 by this man( Baba Ramdev) made sufficient money by now, he is fooling educated & un educated citizens of INDIA., how the name Coronil is cetified by the Drug Authority is questionable ?.Our Govt is weak to take action on this aspect.

  3. I had no clinical depression,mania,OCD disease but a ayurvedic doctor given me these medicine and dried,disordered,disfunctioned my brain.now from last 20 months never ever my sleep come.and from last 10 months continuously day night my head burning and now a days paining also .burns particularly top and right side. Later allopathic doctors done more bad.psychiatric tablets and doctors are worthless.shame on them.they have no idea that if brain is lost not repeated or renewed.before I had no brain problem before.they have put me into hell.

  4. I was a ok person .I had no head problem.but one ayurvedic doctor given me mentat,placida,and himplasia unnecessarily.and one month of prescription.disordered disfunction and dried my cerebral.now from last 20 months I never ever feel even sleepy.my head continuously burning and paining.brain once destroyed is not reapeted but no doctors allopathic or ayurvedic doctors donot know this.shame on them.homeopathy is best

    • There is nothing but sugar and water in homeopathy. They are fake.

      1. ‘The principles of homeopathy contradict known chemical, physical and biological laws and persuasive scientific trials proving its effectiveness are not available.’
      Russian Academy of Sciences

      2. ‘Homeopathy should not be used to treat health conditions that are chronic, serious, or could become serious. People who choose homeopathy may put their health at risk if they reject or delay treatments for which there is good evidence for safety and effectiveness.’
      National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia

      3. ‘These products are not supported by scientific evidence.’
      Health Canada

      4 “Homeopathic remedies don’t meet the criteria of evidence based medicine.”
      Hungarian Academy of Sciences

      5. ‘The incorporation of anthroposophical and homeopathic products in the Swedish directive on medicinal products would run counter to several of the fundamental principles regarding medicinal products and evidence-based medicine.’
      Swedish Academy of Sciences

      6. ‘We recommend parents and caregivers not give homeopathic teething tablets and gels to children and seek advice from their healthcare professional for safe alternatives.’
      US Food and Drug Administration

      7. ‘There is little evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment for any specific condition.’
      National Centre for Complementary and Integrative Health, US

      8. ‘There is no good-quality evidence that homeopathy is effective as a treatment for any health condition.’
      National Health Service, UK

      9. ‘Homeopathic remedies perform no better than placebos, and the principles on which homeopathy is based are scientifically implausible.’
      House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, UK

      10. ‘Homeopathy has not definitively proven its efficacy in any specific indication or clinical situation.’
      Ministry of Health, Spain

      11. ‘There is a constant increase in the quantity of evidence and the conviction of the scientific community in medicine, that homeopathy should be treated as one of the unscientific methods of so-called “alternative medicine”, which proposes worthless products without scientifically proven efficacy.’
      National Medical Council, Poland

      12. ‘From a purely clinical perspective, the fact remains that there is no valid empirical proof
 of the efficacy of homeopathy (evidence-based medicine) beyond the placebo effect.’
      Federaal Kenniscentrum voor de Gezondheidszorg, Belgium

  5. It is very sad to give comments when the world is unknown about its treatment. Atleast some company has come out with some solution. We should take it positively, as it is matter of procedure. Let the Govt go through it and comment on the said product. We should not jump the guns. The product as described is without any side affects, so, why the people cry. If such product benefits the population without harming, it is good.
    We should not jump on conclusion without application of mind.

    • It’s conspiracy of MNC,they may loose trillions of dollars business, this pharmacy company doesn’t have any medicines yet, this doctors r using drug which r helpfully to cure Ebola swine flu,TB,SARS.Then why this drugs has approved for Corona,They r helpful in some cases, Homeopathy and Ayurveda has much better option without any side effect, why Ahush is misleading India And whole world? Question is on shush under whose presser they r acting? People r afraid, they r dying, billions of money r wasted in private hospitals, when people have no work, govt should prompt Ayurveda and homeopathy which r pure, un harmful and body friendly which improves from root.Its only a real medicines,And affordable for all.

    • Critics aren’t jumping the gun. Patanjali did.
      Only medicines that have been proven to cure should enter the market as cures.
      Patanjali did a drama study and jumped to the market to cheat people. I believe this is a willful and deliberate act of fraud given the discrepancy between what they told regulators and what they sold it as.
      You can go finance all the studies you like, but until you get clearance as a cure, if you enter the market unilaterally as cure, you have committed a fraud. There are already specific laws against this. Now government is trying to whitewash this crime as he is a favored person for political reasons.
      Is this hard to understand?

  6. If Patanjali coronil boosts immunity and develops antibody against COVID virus at fast rate and kills the virus, what is harm in telling that Coronil is a medicine for corona.

  7. There is nothing wrong in Coronil,why government not take any action against fair and lovely,why the intellectuals are silent on Johnson and Johnson.Due to ayurvedic medicine,Baba Ram Dev is a soft target. Whole world is spending crores in the research of allopathic medicines and if a small amount will be spend on the research of Ayurveda,the results will be astonishing.

  8. The simple action against Ramdev should be to arrest him and cancel the licence of Patanjali for cheating the public.

  9. In this pandemic situation almost all the people are trying to get rid of the highly infectious problem. Problem is that nobody knows the cure but wants to try everything whatever he/she is watching or hearing on the so called smart phones. The solution is simple, be immune. If you have enough immunity in you, covid will not able to harm you. According to me if someone can prove that the medicine is boosting immunity and the affected person is getting cured, than that is the excect key. After all medicine cures, it doesn’t matter the name. Let the polepole know by it’s credibility. May be “Coronil” no matters if it is the true cure.

  10. Swami ramdev has given formulation for cure why can’t we test it instead of commenting on it just because none of the gras have done by grace of almighty if this drug work as swami ji says then allopathic will be dumped by every body to large extant

  11. Yogi or else, if you can tell a small lie it means you can tell very big lies too.

    Yogi and his associate know all loop holes to make money, so there will be a tendency to adopt it unless he is not spiritually strong.

    He may be trying to fish from muddy water.

  12. 1. Coronil tabs contain Tulsi, Giloy & Ashwagandha: these are also present in ArogyaVati of Ramdev’s Patanjali-..the only difference is Neem has been replaced by Ashwagandha.. Neem has it’s own Immunity & antiviral & antibacterial properties.. this switching was deliberately done to mislead the public just to show that Coronil is a new formula..
    2. Swasari syrup is already a running product, only the tablets with same formula to be introduced. So again a trick to fool the public..
    3. The oil is also nothing new..
    4 . Only Ashwagandha is added to Coronil.. Ashwagandha,in various forms, is already on the list of
    Patanjali.
    5. Cost wise all these ingredients work out less than half the price tag of this “Covid- Coronovil Pack” which is about Rs. 600..
    So their same items already in market are given a new name in a new packing, but with double the price.. just to fool the public .
    The launching function with invitees from private medical, Ayurvedic institutions and the media is nothing but a game of money power..
    Ramdev is a shrewd salesman.. he can even sell a comb to a bald person by claiming that ‘his comb’ will grow new hair.. a Hindi phrase *गंजे को कंनगी बेचना*..
    This matter should be dealt seriously.

  13. Allopathy still trying to find a cure for cold, how will it find a cure for china virus ? This virus is a RNA virus which mutates regularly. In india it has mutated many times in the last 5 months.

  14. Take strict action against this Business Man Ramdev, he is simply advertising his medicine and without getting the approval he has started doing campaigns for selling the medicine. How come yog guru claiming that covid patients have been recovered by using his medicine. Which authority gave him the permission to test the medicine on humans. Is he having the authority letter certified by Indian govt. That his medicine can be tested on humans before getting the clearence from health department.
    This person is taking full advantage of the blind trust of Indian people and is just interested in building his own business empire. He must be good yog guru but as a person he is simply a business man.

    • Ram dev is not a scientist nor has he got much knowledge about coronavirus. So those who took medicines just because he promoted it have fooled themselves

    • Ram dev is not a scientist nor has he got much knowledge about coronavirus. So those who took medicines might have got the proof

  15. Why was approval given for the name ‘Coronil’
    It’s the name itself deceptive?
    Now the authorities are raising questions after pressure on them.

  16. Lack of education mostly tells , even though the converse may not be true . This blowing of air through nostrils has been touted as cure for diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer , though I feel it is just hot air . Educated individuals some times err in making claims the uneducated are rarely un hyperbolic in their claims . One thing that I can say with utmost certainty is while Yoga may be good physical exercise and may help in treating some illnesses it certainly does no good to the brain .

  17. Pathanjali taking centre stage reminded me of Dr. Mukesh Batra – the founder of Dr. Batra’s Positive Health Clinics – a chain of homeopathy clinics in 6 countries. Dr. Batra, who opened the world’s first branded and computerised homeopathy clinic in 1982, was awarded the Padma Shri award in 2012.
    He used ‘computerised homeopathy’ to treat all ailments under the sun, and would have been a worthy candidate to take on the formidable SARS-CoV-2 virus.
    In 2018, Batra introduced a new line of treatment called ‘Geno Homeopathy’ – an unique gene targeted homeopathic treatment, specifically planned as per the patient’s genetic make-up, age, health and lifestyle.
    A simple saliva test – the results of which would be available within 3-4 weeks – would assess the severity of a medical problem even years before the disease appeared.
    Dr. Batra is the author of books on homeopathy, and writer of health columns in several publications (incl. The Times of India). So, it is surprising that we haven’t heard a word from him on using homeopathic medicine in managing/containing the current pandemic.
    Is it because age has caught up with Dr. Mukesh Batra, who would now be around 70? ?

    • Mukesh Batra is another scammer supported by our foolish governments. Homeopathy itself is a sugar pill scam.

      Independent Newspaper (UK): Homeopathic remedies are ‘nonsense and risk significant harm’ say 29 European scientific bodies

      The statement was made by the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), an umbrella organisation representing 29 national academies in Europe, including the Royal Society in the UK.

      The council did not mince its words in its condemnation of homeopathy.

      In a 12-page statement, the group summarised extensive scientific research and concluded that homeopathy is scientifically implausible and produces nothing more than a placebo effect in patients.

      The body recommended that EU states set up regulations to quash what it claims are misleading advertisements by homeopaths, remove homeopathic treatments from public health provision, and require that homeopathic product labels clearly identify ingredients and their amounts.

      Report Name: Homeopathic products and practices: assessing the evidence and ensuring consistency in regulating medical claims in the EU

      All these prestigious national science academies reported that homeopathy is a scam.

      The Austrian Academy of Sciences
      The Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium
      The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
      The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
      The Czech Academy of Sciences
      The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
      The Estonian Academy of Sciences
      The Council of Finnish Academies
      The Académie des sciences (France)
      The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
      The Academy of Athens
      The Hungarian Academy of Sciences
      The Royal Irish Academy
      The Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italy)
      The Latvian Academy of Sciences
      The Lithuanian Academy of Sciences
      The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
      The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
      The Polish Academy of Sciences
      The Academy of Sciences of Lisbon
      The Romanian Academy
      The Slovak Academy of Sciences
      The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
      The Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences
      The Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences
      The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
      The Royal Society (United Kingdom)
      Academia Europaea
      All European Academies (ALLEA)

  18. There is no single drug which is specific against anti coronavirus but even then so many drugs are being used to treat the symptoms and each one of them is having side effects like any other allopathic drug. Ayurvedic drugs do not have any side effects. Secondly, lot many people in the country are taking various ayurvedic combinations and home remedies, not only as a preventive measure but as supportive therapy to various allopathic combinations. Now, Patanjali has done it that it is marketing as anti – corona therapy. Probably it should have written – Boost immunity against corona infection, if they have done it, it is OK.

  19. If it were a foreign country he would immediately lose license and face lawsuit due to misleading naming.
    The only thing it will “Karo” “Nil” is the pockets of poor uneducated masses.
    Opportunism at best.

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