Patanjali's MD decries IMA remark, gives open invitation to discuss science behind Coronil

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday expressed shock over the "blatant lie of WHO certification" for Patanjali's Coronil tablet, which the company claims is an evidence-based medicine to fight COVID-19. Patanjali's Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna on Thursday invited IMA for a discussion on the science behind 'Coronil' with the research team at Patanjali Research Institute.

"Let us discuss in front of nation or IMA apologize for the baseless non-scientific allegations," he tweeted. This comes in the wake of the global health body, WHO, clarifying that it has not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment of COVID-19. In response, Gold medalist Endocrinologist Dr. Om Lakhani accepted Balkrishna's invitation and wrote, "Invitation accepted. Please send details of where and when."

Open invitation to @IndianMedAssn officials for a discussion on the science behind #Coronil, with the research team at #PRI
Let us discuss in front of nation OR #IMA apologize for the baseless non-scientific allegations.
We at #Patanjali are pro-science but anti-conspiracy! pic.twitter.com/aZCmDr5zGx

— Acharya Balkrishna (@Ach_Balkrishna)

Invitation accepted. Please send details of where and when. https://t.co/JyTez1wzMO

— Dr. Om Lakhani, MD, DNB (ENDO) (@omlakhani)

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Yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved had on February 19 said that the Coronil tablet had received certification from the Ayush Ministry as a medicine supporting COVID-19 treatment as per the World Health Organization's certification scheme. 

However, Patanjali's managing director Acharya Balkrishna later made a clarification about the certification through a tweet saying, "We want to clarify to avoid confusion that our WHO GMP compliant COPP certificate to Coronil is issued by DCGI, Government of India. It is clear that WHO does not approve or disapprove any drugs. WHO works for building a better, healthier future for people all over the world (sic)."  

However, WHO South-East Asia in a tweet said: "@WHO has not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment #COVID19." Patanjali had introduced ayurveda-based Coronil on June 23 last year, when the pandemic was at its peak. It had to face severe criticism as it lacked scientific evidence regarding its efficacy.

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(With PTI inputs)