Ayush Ministry To Conduct Clinical Study On Potential Of Vasa And Guduchi Herbs For Management Of Covid-19

The AYUSH Ministry has approved a proposal for conducting a clinical study to assess the role of Vasa Ghana, Guduchi Ghana and Vasa-Guduchi Ghana in therapeutic management of symptoms in Covid-19 positive patients.

This will be a “randomized, open label three armed” study, and will be conducted at the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi, in collaboration with the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) unit of Centre for Scientific Research (CSIR), the ministry said on Friday (25 September).

In view of the need for accelerated solutions for Covid-19, the Ministry of AYUSH has taken up systematic studies on different possible solutions through multiple channels.

"As part of this effort, a proposal for a clinical study to assess the role of Vasa Ghana, Guduchi Ghana and Vasa-Guduchi Ghana in therapeutic management of symptoms in Covid-19 positive cases has recently been approved," the AYUSH Ministry said in a statement.

The detailed proposal with methodology including outcome measures, clinical and laboratory parameters, the logistics of the research has been prepared. The study will use a unique Case Report Forum (CRF), suitable for Ayush mode research.

The CRF and study protocol has also been peer reviewed by experts from different domains including modern medicine and their suggestions have been incorporated. The study will be undertaken subject to the required approvals like that of the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC).

The project would look into the efficacy/action of mono-herbal formulations of whole extracts of Vasa and Guduchi respectively, and polyherbal formulation of Vasa-Guduchi whole extract on therapeutic management of SARS-CoV2 positive asymptomatic and/ or mild COVID-19 symptomatic cases.

Besides, the impact of the formulations on the speed of viral replication will also be examined.

The project would also look into "whether the said mono-herbal and polyherbal formulations can alter the expression profiles of key bio markers associated with Covid-19 disease," the ministry said.

Vasa and Guduchi are time tested herbs in Indian healthcare traditions, used in a variety of disease conditions. The outcome of this study would therefore be of considerable interest to the entire Ayush Sector, the ministry said.