‘Coronil’ certified by India’s drug regulator, not WHO: Patanjali’s Acharya Balkrishna

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday clarified it had not certified the effectiveness of any “traditional medicine” for the cure of COVID-19. Although the world health body didn’t name the “traditional medicine”, but as per media reports, it referred to Patanjali Ayurved’s ‘Coronil’.

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“@WHO has not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment #COVID19,” the WHO said in a tweet.

WHO’s clarification came after Friday’s event where it was claimed that the “medicine” was CoPP (certificate of pharmaceutical product) and WHO GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) certified. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan were in attendance, on the stage, along with Patanjali’s managing director Acharya Balkrishna and Yog ‘guru’ Baba Ramdev.

However, moments before WHO’s statement, Balkrishna issued a clarification that Coronil was issued the WHO GMP compliant COPP certificate by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). “It is clear that WHO do not approve or disapprove any drugs. WHO works for building a better, healthier future for people all over the world,” he said in a tweet.

The world health body doesn’t approve a medicine itself, but issues benchmarks for the certification. The GMP guidelines provide such benchmarks to ensure drugs of appropriate standards are produced and sold.

What led to WHO’s clarification was that during the event on Friday, Patanjali had in a statement said , “Coronil has received the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) from the Ayush section of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation as per the WHO certification scheme,” NDTV reported.

Rakesh Mittal, one of the top executives at Patanjali Ayurved, further claimed that Coronil was “recognised by WHO”.

“Patanjali has made history in the field of Ayurveda as Coronil has been recognized by WHO as First Evidence Based Medicine for Corona,” Mittal said in a now-deleted tweet, as per a report in NDTV.

Patanjali Ayurved had launched ‘Coronil’, which he claimed showed 100% favourable results during clinical trials on the coronavirus patients. However, following a snub by India’s Ministry of AYUSH, the company rebranded it as an immunity booster.