'Sale of Coronil won't be allowed in Maharashtra without certification'

Mumbai: The sale of Coronil tablets of Patanjali will not be allowed in Maharashtra without "proper certification", state Home minister Anil Deshmukh said on Tuesday.

The statement came a day after the Indian Medical Association (IMA) expressed shock over the "blatant lie of WHO certification" for Coronil tablets which Patanjali claims is an evidence-based medicine to fight COVID-19.

While the IMA also demanded an explanation from Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan in whose presence the medicine was launched, the World Health Organisation clarified that it had not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment of COVID-19.

Without naming anyone, Deshmukh said on Twitter that it was "highly deplorable" that two senior Union ministers endorsed the drug.

"The #IMA has questioned the said 'clinical trials' of #Coronil & WHO refuted the false claims made by #Patanjali Ayurveda for giving any certificate regarding its effectiveness for #Covid19 treatment," Deshmukh said.

"...selling of #Coronil without proper certification from competent health organizations like #WHO, #IMA and others will not be allowed in Maharashtra," the minister said.

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

However, Patanjali's managing director Acharya Balkrishna later said: "We want to clarify to avoid confusion that our WHO GMP compliant COPP certificate to Coronil is issued by DCGI, Government of India" and "WHO does not approve or disapprove any drugs".

On Friday, Ramdev launched the Patanjali product in the presence of Harsh Vardhan and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. On a big poster behind the three were claims that the 'medicine' was CoPP and WHO GMP certified — meaning it holds a Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CoPP) and is recognised by the World Health Organisation's Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). Both these standards approximately define quality assurance in medicinal products. With agency inputs