A study on ashwagandha for promoting
recovery from COVID-19 will be conducted under the collaboration of the AYUSH Ministry and UK’s London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), reports PTI.

According to a statement from the
Ministry of AYUSH, the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), an autonomous
body under the Ministry of AYUSH, and LSHTM recently signed a memorandum of
understanding to conduct clinical trials on 2,000 people in three
UK cities, including Leicester, Birmingham, and London (Southall and Wembley). The
traditional herb ashwagandha , often known as ‘Indian winter
cherry,’ promotes energy, decreases stress, and strengthens the immune system.
It is an over-the-counter nutritional supplement that is freely accessible in
the UK and has a verified safety profile, according to the company.

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The successful completion of
the trial can be a major breakthrough and give scientific validity to India’s
traditional medicinal system. While there have been several studies on
Ashwagandha to understand its benefits in various ailments, this is the first
time the Ministry of AYUSH has collaborated with a foreign institution to
investigate its efficacy on COVID-19 patients, it added.

The participants were chosen at
random, according to AIIA Director Dr Tanuja Manoj Nesari, who is also a
co-investigator in the project with Dr Rajgopalan, Coordinator – International
Projects. The study’s lead investigator is LSHTM’s Dr. Sanjay Kinra.

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“For three months, one
group of 1,000 participants will be administered Ashwagandha (AG) tablets while
the second group of 1,000 participants will be assigned a placebo, which is
indistinguishable from AG in looks and taste. Both patients and the doctors
will be unaware of the group’s treatment in a double-blind trial,” Dr
Nesari said in the statement.

The
participants will have to take the 500 mg tablets twice a day. A monthly
follow-up of self-reported quality of life, impairment to activities of daily
living, mental and physical health symptoms, supplement use and adverse events
will be carried out.

It took over 100 meetings
spanning about 16 months through both diplomatic as well as regulatory channels
for signing of the MoU, Dr Nesari said. She added that the study has been
approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and
certified by WHO-GMP. It is being conducted and monitored as per the
internationally recognized GCP (Good Clinical Practices) guidelines, she added.

In recent randomised placebo controlled trials in
humans in India, Ashwagandha was found to be effective in reducing anxiety and
stress, enhancing muscle strength, and reducing fatigue symptoms in patients
with chronic illnesses. It has also been approved for the treatment of
non-restorative sleep, a symptom of chronic fatigue, for which clinical trials
are presently underway, according to the release.

The study recommends Ashwagandha as a
possible therapeutic candidate for reducing the long-term symptoms of COVID-19 ,
it noted, based on extensive literature on its pharmacological and
immunomodulatory activities in vitro and in animals.

After the trial’s success,
Ashwagandha will be a proven medicinal treatment to prevent infection and be
recognized by the scientific community worldwide.   Despite successful
vaccine development, COVID-19 continues to pose a substantial threat to health
in the UK and globally. More than 15 per cent of adults in the UK, where the
clinical trials on Ashwagandha are going to take place, and more than 10 per
cent globally have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.