Coronavirus: Trials for 4 AYUSH formulations to start within week
Union Minister Shripad Y Naik on Thursday said that the AYUSH Ministry and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are working on four AYUSH formulations against COVID-19. Naik is the Union Minister of State for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy). The four formulations are expected to start trials within a week. Here are more details.
AYUSH formulations will be tried as add-on therapy for patients
Naik tweeted, "The AYUSH Ministry and the CSIR are working together on validating four AYUSH formulations against COVID-19 pandemic and the trials will start within one week." "These formulations will be tried as an add-on therapy and standard care for COVID-19 patients," Naik added, "I am sure and quite hopeful that our traditional medicinal system will show the way to overcome this pandemic."
You can view Naik's tweet here
What are the four formulations?
AYUSH Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha told ANI, "These four candidates are Ashwagandha, Yashtimadhu (Mulethi), Guduchi + Pippali (Giloy) and AYUSH-64, which was invented for the treatment of malaria and its repurposing is going on." He said they are conducting two kinds of stimulus studies as profile access on the high-risk population for Ashwagandha. A competitive study of hydroxychloroquine and Ashwagandha is also planned.
Centers and investigators finalized for trial
Kotecha said that he met CSIR Director-General, Dr. Shekhar Mande, on Wednesday and they finalized centers and investigators for the trial. Kotecha said they procured the requisite approvals to start the trial along with standard drugs. "We cannot just buy it from the market and we need to have a standard size requirement of the drugs," he told ANI.
Results of trial to come out in three months
Mande and Kotecha said the trial results will be announced within three months. Kotecha said that they took advice from the Indian Council of Medical Research for the study so that it "becomes so robust that it should be publishable into a very high-impact journal."
'This type of study has never happened in India'
Kotecha told ANI, "This is once in a lifetime opportunity. This type of study has never happened in our country." He added, "We have formed the task force and have prepared guidelines for the clinical trial. Some of the best scientists of the country from the medical field, from CSIR and others, have also reviewed this."
