Ayush Summit: New India-UK study to focus on Ashwagandha’s use in treating Long Covid

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine will team up with the All-India Institute of Ayurveda, an autonomous institution under the Minry of Ayush, to test the effect of Ashwagandha tablets in patients dealing with ‘Long Covid’. The first such exercise, the study will be conducted the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom.
Nearly 2,500 people with Covid-19 across the UK will be part of the study, said Dr Tanuja Nesari, Director of the Indian Institute of Ayurveda at the Global Ayush Investment and Innovations Summit in Gandhinagar.
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) or the Indian winter cherry is known for its energy boosting and stress relieving properties and has a proven ‘safety profile (therapeutic and adverse effects of a substance)’.
Broadly defined as a complex sequel of acute Covid-19 illness, marked fatigue, brain fog, and debilitating outcome on health and quality of life, among other symptoms, many patients have been complaining of Long Covid recently, as the pandemic recedes and returns.
“Symptoms can pers for a long time after recovering from Covid and these could be fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, insomnia, restlessness and anxiety. Around 2,500 persons suffering from these symptoms after recovering from Covid in the UK will be given the Ashwagandha tablet – 500 mg, twice a day, for three months. They will be monitored to check whether the herb helps in faster recovery,” said Dr Nesari.
“Unde the aegis of Ayush Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) and CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) we completed randomised controlled preventive drug trials of 800 high-risk subjects to show the efficacy and safety of Ashwagandha in Covid-19. While the precise cause and pathology is not known in these cases, inadequate immune recovery and immunity may be involved… and ashwagandha seems to be a potential therapeutic for such patients,” said Dr Arvind Chopra chief clinical coordinator, AYUSH-CSIR project.
So far ashwagandha has been promoted as a supplement and immune-modulator, and this is the first time that the MHRA has given approval for its use as a medicine. An EU GMP (European Union Good Manufacturing Practice)-certified manufacturing unit will make the tablets in India. “We are the knowledge partner and will supply the Ashwagandha for the tablets,” Dr Nesari added.
With an aim to develop AIIMS-like model for Ayurveda, the institute is collaborating with 39 premier organisations within the country and abroad, including the Harvard Medical School and the UK Prince Charles Foundation. And the “standardisation and validation of Ayurveda drugs and treatment modalities” is among the institute’s top priorities.
We hope the study will commence soon, said Dr Nesari, as all formalities are complete and “protocol, pre-screening, drug development and patient screening have started.”
The All-India Institute of Ayurveda, New Delhi, is a tertiary care hospital under the Minry of Ayush, with the primary mandate to create an evidence base for traditional practices which are supported technology.
“These are exciting times to generate evidence-based Ayurveda for global recognition and clinical use. Recent Covid research studies in India, including the one in collaboration with the UK centre, will eventually fuel futuric integrative medicine,” said. Dr Chopra.