Comparative retrospective open-label study of ayurvedic medicines and their combination with allopathic drugs on asymptomatic and mildly-symptomatic COVID-19 patients

Acharya Balkrishna; Aarti Ben Bhatt; Pratima Singh; Swati Haldar; Anurag Varshney

doi:10.1016/j.hermed.2021.100472

Comparative retrospective open-label study of ayurvedic medicines and their combination with allopathic drugs on asymptomatic and mildly-symptomatic COVID-19 patients

J Herb Med. 2021 Oct:29:100472. doi: 10.1016/j.hermed.2021.100472. Epub 2021 May 21.

Authors

Acharya Balkrishna^{1

2}, Aarti Ben Bhatt³, Pratima Singh¹, Swati Haldar¹, Anurag Varshney^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Drug Discovery and Development Division, Patanjali Research Institute, Roorkee-Haridwar Road, Haridwar 249405, Uttarakhand, India.
² Department of Allied and Applied Sciences, University of Patanjali, NH-58, Haridwar 249405, Uttarakhand, India.
³ Patanjali Chikitsalaya, UL-17A, Harekrishna Complex, Paldi, Ahmedabad 380007, Gujarat, India.
⁴ Special Centre for Systems Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, India.

Abstract

Introduction: Treatment for COVID-19 was ambiguous in the beginning of the pandemic. At that time, the conventional medical system was grappling to cope with the rapidly spreading pandemic. The potential of Ayurveda, one of the branches of traditional Indian medicine (TIM), with a 5000 year old history, employing medicines derived from plants and other natural sources, against COVID-19 has been explored through a comparative retrospective open-label study.

Methods: Reported here are the remedial effects of Ayurvedic medicines alone or in combination with Allopathic treatment on 59 asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients, across multiple COVID-19 care centers in Ahmedabad, India. The patients were confirmed for COVID-19 infection through RT-qPCR of nasopharyngeal swabs. With informed consents from the patients, the sourced data was divided into 'Allopathic and Ayurvedic' [AlloAyur] (n = 41) and 'Ayurvedic only'[Ayur] (n = 18) groups, based on the type of treatment the patients decided to receive, that is Ayurvedic medicines with Allopathic treatment or Ayurvedic medicines alone, respectively. Ayurvedic medicines included oral doses and nasal drops; the dosage and regime were decided based on the recommendations from Ayurvedic texts. The Allopathic medicines included Azithromycin, Vitamin-C and anti-histamines. Acetaminophen was also administered when necessary, by the attending physician. The patients were observed for symptomatic improvement.

Results: Primary outcome of this study was the symptomatic relief from COVID-19. Data collected over a period of two months, showed that more patients exhibited symptomatic relief in Ayur goup (83.33 %) than in the AlloAyur group (48.78 %) within the first 13 days of treatment. No visible adverse effects were observed. This indicated faster and safe symptomatic resolution among those treated with Ayurvedic medicines alone.

Conclusion: Patients receiving only Ayurvedic medicines on average were symptomatically relieved faster than those receiving Allopathic and Ayurvedic medicines together.

Keywords: Anu Taila; Ashwagandha; Ayurveda; COVID-19; Divya Swasari Ras; Giloy Ghanvati; Tulsi Ghanvati.