As part of the tie-up, AVS will provide standardised Ayurveda formulations to CCMB for checking their anti-viral efficacy.
CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad has entered into an agreement with Arya Vaidya Sala (AVS), Kottakkal to check for the efficacy of Ayurvedic formulations in the fight against Covid-19.
AVS is a 118-years old charitable institution headquartered at Kottakkal in Kerala, which has been engaged in the practice and propagation of Ayurveda.
They manufacture more than 500 formulations. CCMB is a premier life science research institute, and have been testing, sequencing and growing coronavirus strains in their labs.
As part of the agreement, AVS will provide standardised Ayurveda formulations. CCMB will test them on the lab-grown coronavirus strains in the cell culture system, and check for their anti-viral efficacy.
“If it yields tangible results, the project will lead to major progress in India’s pharmaceutical industry. In the ongoing fight against the coronavirus, it has become imperative to rigorously test the different treatment possibilities before the public uses them, ” Dr Rakesh Mishra, Director, CCMB said in a release.
CCMB has established an efficacy testing facility for drugs and devices by using the lab-grown coronavirus. This can be used for testing the anti-viral efficacy of Ayurvedic formulations too, he added.
“We are hopeful that the findings of this study will yield useful therapeutic support in the current situation. The chemical evaluation of the selected formulations showed the presence of potent molecules, and they will be investigated further” said Dr C T. Sulaiman, Senior Scientist, AVS.