Makers of herbal COVID medicine seek govt help in popularising drug

At a time when vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — promise maximum possible protection against COVID and its variants, two innovators from Assam have prepared a herbal concoction, which was found to be 98% effective in curing the disease caused by SARS-COV2 virus.

Pankaj Gogoi from Dhemaji and Pranjal Gam from Golaghat in Assam are now in talks with AYUSH Ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for further guidance so that the herbal medicine they prepared could be made available for treatment of COVID across the country and the world.

The anti-viral herbal drink has been certified by the Bio Inoculation Centre of the Indian Institute of Life Science, an autonomous institute of the Central government’s Department of Biotechnology at Bhubaneshwar.

Gogoi, who works with the National Livelihood Mission of Assam, said that at present they are working hard to establish safety and effectiveness of the medicine, which was found to have no side effects.

The duo cited results of EC50 test (done to ascertain the drink’s cytotoxicity i.e. the quality of being toxic to cells) to say it was highly effective on infected cells.

Also read: Indications of COVID cases plateauing in India: Health ministry

Gogoi said their inquisitiveness to find a cure led them to the dense forests of Arunachal Pradesh. They started working on the cure in 2019 itself when the pandemic broke out in China. In Arunachal Pradesh, an NGO, Arunachal Vikash Parishad, helped them in collecting the herbs from the hilly terrain. “We gave our medicine to our friends who were COVID-infected and were willing to try. It worked well,” said Gogoi.

While collecting the herbs, and preparing the right concoction, the duo established communication with the concerned ministries and departments seeking essential permission for trial.

On December 28, the Prime Minister’s Office directed them to the Ministry of AYUSH, which is yet to give a response.

Meanwhile, the Department of Biotechnology had suggested them to approach the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council for pre-clinical testing, approvals, marketing etc.

Gogoi said their medicine was found to cure patients of Omicron variant in four days with nagging cough being controlled in two days. It was also found effective in treating patients with co-morbidities with no side effects.

Currently, their company is capable of providing the medicine to 10,000 people and can scale up production if needed, said Gogoi, adding they expect help from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in taking the herbal drug abroad. “The medicine is not for Assam or India, it’s for the world,” he added.