CCMB to test the efficacy of Ayurvedic formulations in fighting Covid-19

The CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad has announced an agreement with Arya Vaidya Sala (AVS), Kottakkal to examine the efficacy of Ayurvedic formulations in fighting the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

As per the agreed partnership, AVS will provide standardised Ayurveda formulations which the CCMB will test on the lab-grown coronavirus strains in the cell culture system, to check for their anti-viral efficacy.

“If it yields tangible results, the project will lead to a major progress in the pharmaceutical industry in India. While India possesses a lot of ancient wisdom, it has lacked defined regulatory protocols for testing the efficacy of formulations that are based on the ancient texts,” said Dr Rakesh Mishra, Director, CCMB.

“In the ongoing fight against the virus, it is imperative to rigorously test all the different treatment possibilities before the approval for public consumption.”

CCMB, a premier life-science research institute based in Hyderabad, is involved in the testing, sequencing and growing of coronavirus strains in its labs. AVS is a charitable institution based at Kottakkal in Kerala, engaged in the practice and propagation of Ayurveda.

“We are joining hands with CCMB with the objective of attempting to validate classical knowledge of Ayurveda with the aid of modern science. We are hopeful that findings of this study will yield useful therapeutic support in the current pandemic situation. The chemical evaluation of the selected formulations showed presence of potent molecules, and they will be investigated further” said Dr C T Sulaiman, senior scientist, AVS.