New Delhi: The entire country has been taken for a ride, the Supreme Court said last month as it temporarily banned Patanjali Ayurved from advertising or branding certain products claiming to cure diseases or disorders specific under the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act 1954.
While the Supreme Court’s rebuke for Patanjali came on the back of a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association, it was a Kerala ophthalmologist who first took on Patanjali for its “misleading” advertisements.
Dr. Babu K.V, a 59-year-old ophthalmologist from Kannur who has been practising medicine for 25 years now, has been writing to various central and Uttarakhand government authorities since February 2022 against allegedly illegal ads Divya Pharmacy, a manufacturing unit owned by Patanjali Ayurved Ltd in Haridwar, Uttarakhand.
He told ThePrint that he had an eye on Patanjali’s advertisements since 2019, when he noticed an eye drops advertisement that claimed to be effective in treating cataracts, glaucoma, and certain other diseases. Being an ophthalmologist, he says that he knew no single drop could’ve been effective for all these diseases. He then tagged the Advertising Standards Council of India on Twitter (now X) against this ad, “but nothing happened”.
Kindly note @ascionline . They claim it is helpful in treating " double vision, color vision " ! It is a misleading advertising . Why should anyone treat , color vision ? How can they treat double vision with some drops !!
— Dr Babu K V (@drbabukv) March 3, 2021
However, in February 2022, an advertisement in The Hindu caught his eye. This ad for a Patanjali product claimed that it protects one from “heart problems and blood pressure” by “reducing cholesterol in a week”. He took the initiative and wrote to V.G. Somani, the drugs controller general of India (DCGI). And thus, his journey began.
His arsenal has been section 3(d) of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act 1954, which prohibits advertisements for drugs claiming to “prevent or cure” 54 diseases listed in its schedule. This includes cancer, cataracts, diabetes, obesity, lupus, tumors, and heart diseases.
ThePrint reached Patanjali spokesperson S.K. Tijarawala for comment via calls and text message. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
The start of it all
Babu’s letter to the DGCI brought the advertisements related to several of Patanjali’s products — including Divya Lipidom tablet, Divya Livogrit, Divya Livamrit advance tablet, Divya Madhunashini Vati and Divya Madhugrit tablet — under the scanner. He then filed an RTI application with the DCGI to know the status of his complaint.
Through several subsequent RTI applications, he found out that his complaint had been forwarded to the Union Ayush ministry, which in turn had sent a communication to the office of the licensing officer, Ayurvedic and Unani Services, Uttarakhand.
In April 2022, the Uttarakhand licensing authorities then wrote to Patanjali, directing it to remove such misleading advertisements immediately, and warned of cancellation of its licence in case any such media exercise is undertaken without permission.
In May 2022, Divya Pharmacy responded saying that the medicines had been manufactured under licences issued by the Ayush ministry. It further pointed out that Rule 170 of the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules 1945, which was inserted through an amendment passed in December 2018, was stayed by the Bombay High Court in February 2019.
The Rule prohibited the advertisement of ayurvedic drugs without it being cleared by the competent licensing authority. The court had further directed the authorities not to take any coercive action against the members of the petitioner organisation — the Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers Association.
The company asserted that since it is a member of the Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers Association, no coercive action should be taken against it. However, it added that taking note of the notice, Divya Pharmacy had stopped the publication of the advertisements mentioned by it.
“I thought that was the end of the matter,” Babu told ThePrint.
‘Misconceptions by allopathy’
However, in July 2022, he saw another advertisement in Chennai Times, titled ‘Misconceptions spread by allopathy’. This, he says, was a “turning point” for him.
This ad boasted: “For a permanent solution for lifestyle disorders, incurable, chronic and genetic diseases, register for one-week residential cure in Patanjali wellness and become everlastingly healthy”.
“It was shocking to me,” Babu said.
It was this advertisement that also resulted in the doctor becoming “aggressive” with his complaints and RTIs because the ad also claimed that Patanjali’s products cured type 1 diabetes.
“This was a really serious public health issue and nobody was doing anything about it,” he told ThePrint. He has since approached the Uttarakhand State licensing authority, the Union Ayush ministry, and even the Press Council of India to put a stop to these misleading ads.
Babu’s efforts bore fruit when the Uttarakhand Ayurvedic and Unani Services Licensing Authority (UAUSLA) asked Divya Pharmacy to stop the production of five medicines for diabetes, blood pressure, goiter, glaucoma, and high cholesterol, on 9 November 2022.
Five drugs — Bpgrit, Madhugrit, Thyrogrit, Lipidom tablets, and Eyegrit Gold tablets — were being promoted as medicines for these diseases.
The subject line of the communication, seen by ThePrint, said, “repeated contravention of Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable advertisement) Act 1954 and Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 & Rules 1945 by Divya Pharmacy Haridwar.”
It then asked Patanjali to also remove all advertising of these products. In response, Acharya Balkrishna, MD of Patanjali Ayurved, tweeted: “The information received from the media clearly shows the involvement of anti-Ayurveda drug mafias in this. We will not let this conspiracy succeed in any way”.
चिकित्सा के नाम पर भ्रम व भय का जो व्यापार चल रहा है,उस पर सबसे ज्यादा प्रहार किसी ने किया है तो वह है पतंजलि संस्थान Media के तहत जो जानकारी मिली है इससे स्पष्ट होता है कि इसमें आयुर्वेद विरोधी ड्रग माफियाओं की संलिप्तता दिखती है हम किसी भी तरह इस षड्यंत्र को सफल नहीं होने देंगे pic.twitter.com/6XgMByWXdG
— Acharya Balkrishna (@Ach_Balkrishna) November 10, 2022
Within days, this order was revoked, with UAUSLA licence officer C.G.S. Jangpangi saying it had been “erroneous”.
On 18 June last year, Babu sent an email to Union Ayush minister Sarbananda Sonowal, referring to two ads from Patanjali — one published in Malayala Manorama on 17 June and another carried by Mathrubhumi on 18 June. According to the email, seen by ThePrint, the ads advertised drugs for diabetes (Madhugrit), obesity (Medohar Vati), and heart diseases (cardiogrit) — all of which are prohibited under the 1954 act.
“It is clear that while Divya Pharmacy is continuously advertising, there is no visible action from the State Licensing Authority of Uttarakhand to stop such ads…It is really shocking…I request you to intervene urgently (to) stop this illegal ad at the earlier,” it added.
‘53 misleading ads in 8 months’
In his quest against Patanjali’s ads, Babu received support from lawmakers on the way. In November 2022, MP Karti P. Chidambaram also wrote to Sonowal, requesting action against misleading advertisements of Ayurvedic medicines by Patanjali.
In a response dated 14 February 2023 and seen by ThePrint, Sonowal told Chidambaram that “the matter has been examined”, and “the State Licensing Authority, Uttarakhand has been directed to take appropriate action as deemed fit…in light of the Drugs and Magical Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954”. The communication said that the Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority had been given this direction on 10 February 2023.
Then, in March last year, Rajya Sabha member Dr. V. Sivadasan, who’s from Kannur, asked the Minister of Ayush “whether (the) Government has taken cognizance of the banning of five drugs namely Divya Madhugrit, Divya Eyegrit Gold, Divya Thyrogrit, Divya BPgrit and Divya Lipidom in the country”.
In response, Sonowal responded that states and Union territories are empowered to enforce the provisions of the Drugs & Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, and Rule 170 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1945, pertaining to the control and prohibition of misleading advertisements and exaggerated claims of drugs.
The response revealed that there were 53 instances of “misleading advertisements” of drugs from Patanjali in the preceding eight months for BPgrit (18), Madhugrit (15), Eyegrit Gold (10), Thyrogrit (3) and Lipidom (7). These instances had been reported by peripheral pharmacovigilance centers.
“In the year 2022, the Ministry of Ayush had forwarded advertisements of Divya Madhugrit, Divya Lipidom, Divya Eyegrit Gold, and Divya BPgrit to Ayurveda & Unani Services, State of Uttarakhand to examine the matter for withdrawal of advertisements,” the response added.
Another roadblock in Babu’s fight was the Bombay High Court’s stay on Rule 170 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1940, which was inserted through an amendment in December 2018 to control and prohibit misleading advertisements and exaggerated claims about drugs.
In fact, a communication by the Uttarakhand state licensing authorities in 2022 told the Ayush ministry that Divya Pharmacy had been relying on the stay of Rule 170 through various communications. It said that this is why the authority was not able to take further action against the manufacture of these drugs by the firm.
However, the Ayush ministry has clarified, including in a communication in February last year, that while the high court has stayed Rule 170, the 1954 act is not under challenge and can still be used to probe and take action against such advertisements.
Sought PMO intervention
In January this year, Babu wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) alleging “repeated contravention of Drugs & Magic Remedies Act, 1954, by Divya Pharmacy & no clear visible action from the Ministry of Ayush GOI & the Director of Ayurvedic Services Uttarakhand even after repeated communications”.
In this communication, seen by ThePrint, he pointed out that his complaints against violation of the 1954 Act have been pending with the DCGI, Union Ministry of Ayush, and the State Licensing Authority of Uttarakhand since 24 February 2022. He demanded the PMO’s intervention to “give appropriate direction to the Union Ayush minister so that there is an end to the continuing contravention of DMR (OA) Act 1954 by Divya Pharmacy”.
The PMO, he says, was prompt. Within days, his complaint was transferred to the Ayush ministry, which in turn sent the communication to the director of Ayurvedic and Unani Services, Uttarakhand. The letter said, “Since the subject matter pertains to continuous violations of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, by Divya Pharmacy, it comes under the jurisdiction of the State Licensing Authority, Uttarakhand. Therefore, it is requested to examine the matter and take necessary action as deemed appropriate”.
Babu told ThePrint that accordin to an RTI response he received in reponse to his lettor to the PMO, the Uttarakhand state licensing authority appointed a drug inspector earlier this year to conduct an on-site inspection of Divya Pharmacy and investigate the matter. However, he says that similar orders had been issued in the past, “but no follow-up action was taken as per my information”.
This, he says, “is a ploy used as a delaying tactics to drag the issues further”.
Finally, last month, a bench comprising justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah came down heavily on Patanjali for its misleading advertisements. It noted that the company had continued to do so despite an assurance to the Supreme Court in November last year that it would not make any misleading ads.
Observing that by continuing with its tactics, Patanjali prima facie violated the undertaking made before the court in November, the court also issued notice to Patanjali Ayurved and its managing director Balkrishna to show cause why action should not be taken against them for the contempt of court.
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