India, UK to conduct clinical trials of Ashwagandha for treating Covid-19
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New Delhi, August 02: In the major development, AYUSH Ministry has collaborated with the UK's London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to conduct a study on Ashwagandha for prompting recovery from the novel coronavirus.
All India Institute of Ayurveda an autonomous body under the ministry of Ayush and LSHTM signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct clinical trials of Ashwagandha. Clinical trials would be conducted on 2,000 people in three UK cities-Leicester, Birmingham, and London.
There have been several studies on Ashwagandha in past to understand its benefits on several ailments. But this is the first time the Ministry of AYUSH has collaborated with foreign institutions to check its efficacy on COVID-19 patients.
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Ashwagandha is scientifically called Withania somnifera. It is commonly called as ‘Indian winter cherry’. The herb is widely used as a customary medicine especially for weakness. It is an easily accessible, over-the-counter, safe nutritional supplement in the U.K. The positive effects of ‘Ashwagandha’ have been observed in Long COVID, which is a multi-system disease.
The successful completion of the trial can be a breakthrough and give scientific validity to India's traditional medicinal system.
According to AIIA Director Dr. Tanuja Manoj Nesari, who is also a co-investigator in the project along with Dr. Rajgopalan, Coordinator – International Projects, the participants have been randomly selected. Dr. Sanjay Kinra of LSHTM is the principal investigator of the study.
"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 500mg tablets of Ashwagandha twice a day, followed by a monthly medical check-up regarding quality of life, impairment to activities of daily living, mental and physical health symptoms, supplement use and adverse events will be carried out.
After the trial's success, Ashwagandha will be a proven medicinal treatment to prevent infection and be recognized by the scientific community worldwide.
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