Indian Billionaire Claims His New Herbal Concoction Is A ‘100% Cure’ For Covid-19

Amid a worldwide race to discover a drug to treat Covid-19, Patanjali Ayurved, an Indian maker of herbal products, made the sensational claim Tuesday that it has developed a medicine that can completely cure those afflicted by the deadly respiratory disease. But the company’s just-launched Corona Kit, which consists of Coronil, an ayurvedic pill, nasal drops and a herbal oil, has already come under fire from both the government and India’s medical community. 

Patanjali Ayurved, which sells everything from herbal toothpastes and cosmetics to noodles and jams, was co-founded by politically well-connected yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who’s the face of the company but holds no shares. His business partner Acharya Balkrishna owns a 98.5% stake and is a billionaire with a net worth of $1.2 billion.

Patanjali, which had clocked a feverish rate of growth by taking on multinational rivals such as Nestle and Hindustan Unilever and homegrown Dabur, owned by the billionaire Burman clan, has lately seen sales turn sluggish. The addition of Coronil to its portfolio would give it a much-needed boost. 

Patanjali’s announcement of its coronavirus wonder cure was made by the duo at a press conference in the north Indian city of Haridwar, where the company is headquartered. The launch of Coronil comes at a time when India, despite being under a strict lockdown has seen infections soar. With 440,215 cases (and 14,011 deaths) so far, the country currently has the fourth highest number of people globally who have tested positive for the disease.

Coronil’s curative properties have already been questioned by India’s Ministry of Ayush, which promotes alternative medicine including ayurveda, homeopathy and yoga. “Facts of the claim and details of the stated scientific study are not known to the Ministry,” it said in a statement and asked the company to “stop advertising/publicizing such claims till the issue is duly examined.” 

The ministry wants Patanjali to submit details of the miracle medicine it is touting, such as the research study that was carried out, including the sample size of patients and the protocol it had followed. The company says it has submitted the required information.

In its study of 120 people who were asymptomatic, mildly symptomatic and moderately symptomatic (in which half were given the Coronil tablets and the other half were given a placebo), it tested the patients on the third day, the seventh day and the 14th day. By the end of the study, the symptomatic patients who received Coronil—which is made from extracts of ashwagandha (Indian ginseng), giloy (tinospora cordifolia) and tulsi (holy basil)—had turned asymptomatic, according to the documents Patanjali submitted to the government.

(Homegrown Dabur, too, has jumped on the Ayurved as a cure for covid-19 and is conducting a clinical trial among health patients to see if its chyawanprash, an ayruved concoction of more than 40 herbs that aid in boosting the immune system, can be a preventive remedy.)

Dr. Naresh Trehan, chairman and managing director of hospital chain Medanta in Delhi, says that while he believes in the ancient science of Ayurveda “for anything to be considered effective it has to stand the test of a large randomized study to show its efficacy. [For Coronil] we’re not aware of such a study and its results. Just anecdotal experiences are not reliable as there may be many fallacies in it.”

Coronil’s launch coincides with the government’s efforts to explore the use of ayurved medicines to treat Covid-19. The Ayush ministry has approved a study of three ayurvedic formulations, which will be carried out at 10 sites across the country, including at hospitals like Medanta, says Dr. Pooja Sharma, head of research at Medanta Institute of Education & Research.

“None of these are antiviral and they’re all meant to support the immune or respiratory system,” Sharma elaborates. Moreover, she added, the ministry is following proper protocols of medical research including conducting studies at multiple centers that will be overseen by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. “They’ve gone through all the processes. This is the correct way of carrying out trials and gives a better chance of finding out what really works, “ Sharma adds.