Patanjali refutes IMA's claims; releases research papers on Coronil

A day after Indian Medical Association's (IMA) scathing attack against Patanjali's Covid-19 medicine, the Ayurveda major on Wednesday hit back with scientific research papers and alleged that the body fabricating facts.

“Coronil is an evidence-based medicine with the integration of scientifically validated research evidence under pre-medical and clinical expertise," Patanjali Ayurved said, in response to the IMA's letter.

Its ingredients have been in the public domain and Coronil has been “thoroughly reviewed and scrutinised by the competent licensing authority. Therefore, Coronil is in no way a secret medicine, as portrayed by IMA officials. Stating such vague and erroneous statements is absolutely incorrect”, it added.

To support its argument, Patanjali has released a bunch of scientific papers on its research for a Covid-19 medicine that was published in popular peer-reviewed journals like Phytomedicine, Journal of Inflammation Research, and Molecules, among others. It also said that 18 more research papers on the topic are in the pipeline for publishing.

In response to IMA's demand for releasing the details on the clinical trial for Coronil, Patanjali submitted the records of its clinical trial conducted in association with the National Institute of Medical Sciences, Jaipur. It shows, the medicine was applied on patients aged between 15 and 80 years of age starting 29 May 2020. It said, “randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded clinical trial” was conducted.

Documents further show that the medicine was duly approved and granted Certificate of Pharmaceutical Products license by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization's (CDSCO) Ayush section on 5 November last year. As per CDSCO, the group is now allowed to export Coronil to 158 countries.

The IMA on Tuesday had also criticised Health Minister Harsha Vardhan for his presence during Coronil's launch and sought his explanation for endorsing the drug.

In a response to that, Patanjali said the minister's “presence was intended to be a message to the countrymen that in addition to modern medicines, there are other forms of medicines based on scientific evidence. He did not endorse any ayurvedic medicines, neither did he undermine the modern medicines”.