Hitahitam sukhant dukhmayustsya hitahitam
Manum ch tachh yatroktmayurved sa uchhyate
(Ayurveda is the knowledge that indicates the appropriate and
inappropriate, happy or sorrowful conditions of living, what is
auspicious or inauspicious for longevity, as well as the
measure of life itself) - Charaka Samhita 1.41
AYURVEDA, literally, means 'the science of life'. Vedic
texts reveal that Ayurveda was in practice before 4000 BC; it
has gone through several stages of development since
then. Today, it is part of a movement towards a global
medicine that incorporates the best developments in the
medicines of all lands. A new medical regimen is emerging,
largely through a reexamination of older Eastern and traditional medicines of native peoples. "Of all the systems," writes
David Frawley in his book Ayurvedic Healing (1994),
"Ayurveda is probably the best point of synthesis for such
global medicine. It contains the broadest number of healing
modalities, It retains much of the language of alchemy, which
was a kind of global medical
and spiritual tradition in ancient and medieval times."
What can Ayurveda offer
to contemporary medicine?
What is required today is an
intelligent and pragmatic
approach to evaluate selected drugs from among the
several hundreds of drugs of herbal origin listed in the
ayurvedic classics and being used by practising physicians,
says G V Satyavati, director general, Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR)
in the Indian Journal of
Medical Research, 76
(Suppl), December, 1982.
Satyavati believes that it
would be worthwhile to
direct our research
efforts to those traditional drugs which may
be of use (a) in combating the so-called 'refractory diseases' (cancer,
rheumatoid arthritis, etc)
for which modern medicine has not been able to
offer any lasting remedies; and (b) as supplementary remedies for modern chemotherapy.
The World Health Organization (WHO) meeting for the
Development of Research Protocols in Priority Areas in
Traditional Medicine, held in Varanasi in November 1980,
had selected five refractory diseases for clinical trials. In
another trial of this type under the ICNIR and WHO - in
Coimbatore and Madras - the evaluation of the efficacy of
ayurvedic treatment in rheumatoid arthritis, carried out by a
group of traditional practitioners, showed encouraging preliminary results. However, the less apparent but equally interesting fundamental principles and concepts of Ayurveda have,
unfortunately, not received the attention they deserve from
scientists and physicians, says Satyavati.
In 1989, Majeed went on a futile trip to Togo in Africa -
and later to Ghana - in search of a patient with full-blown
symptoms. In 1992, newsmagazines in Kerala broke the story
of Chitra of Kilimanoor, near Thiruvananthapuram.
Chitra's first marriage to a worker had lasted for only a
year, as her husband died of AIDS in 1992. Three days after his death, Chitra delivered a child, Privanka; both mother and
daughter were pronounced HIV positive. Majeed's efforts to
persuade Chitra to try his miracle cure for the dreaded disease
ended in failure initially. However, Majeed was fortunate in
finding another HJV positive patient - Baburaj of Kattakkada
- who agreed to try the medicine. He started taking it on July
30, 1992, and 15 days later, wrote to Majeed saying he was
much better and was gaining weight. This letter was forward-
ed to Chitra, who agreed to take the course from September
17, 1992. Baburaj was pronounced negative on October 16,
1992 and Chitra on October 31, 1992.
According to Majeed, neither the Medical College
Hospital at Thiruvananthapuram nor the Christian Medical
College Hospital, Vellore, is prepared to check Chitra and
certify whether she still is afflicted by the HI,/ virus after her
medication with Immuno QR, notwithstanding the fact that
the woman has since then regained her lost health and entered
into a second marriage.
Till date, Majeed has treated around 3,000 cases and
claims a 95 per cent success rate. "On learning about the
wonder drug, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
constituted a protocol (No:AID/DEL/D-222) in May 1993 to
have an open non-comparative study of the effects of this
medicine on patients suffering from AMS. The project director
of this (three-month) study was A R Anand, and the coordinator was Rajiv Anand," said Majeed. On June 8, 1993, the
ICNIR started testing under principal investigator A K Verma
of Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia
Hospital and S P Tripathi, former
director general Of ICNIR - Majeed's
drug on 11 HIV/AIDS patients.
"The patients were examined on
the first, 30th, 60th and the 90th days of administering the
medicine," says Majeed. "On July 22, 1 was called to Delhi b 'v
the director and coordinator of the study and was asked to give
them 25 per cent 'partnership' in my firm, Fair Pharma, which
makes the AIDS medicine," he adds. They told Majeed they
would not publish the results unless they got their "portion of
money". Majeed points out that according to the protocol, if
the physical fitness of the patients improved above 75 per cent,
then the ICMR and WHO were bound to certify the medicine as
an effective cure against the disease.
"I agreed to pay Rs 1.5 crore to A R Anand as 'consultation
fee' for preparing suitable protocols and involving various
medical personnel and arranging suitable interaction from
time to time for the progress of the trials in a systematic way,"
Majeed says. An agreement was signed to this effect and
Majeed claims to have sent five cheques of Rs 30 lakh each
(cheque nos: 7041630, 7041631, 7041632, 7041633 and
7041634 of the Union Bank of India) to A R Anand's address.
After collecting the checlucs for Rs 1.5 crore, Anand is said to have asked Majeed to contact Tripathi in Delhi.
Apprehending a demand for more money, the harassed
ayurvedic researcher did not meet Tripathi, and the results to
the tests continue to be withheld; according to Majeed, the
study was over on September 7, 1993.
Anand refutes all the charges, saying that his actions
were according to the terms and conditions stated in the
agreement. He has filed a defamation suit on Majeed. Lalit
Kant, deputv director-general, and Q Saxena, assistant deputy
director-general at the ICMR's division of epidemiology and
communicable diseases vehementIv deny the existence of a
protocol between ICMR and Majeed. "ELISA tests were done on
eight patients, only to help Anand. In fact, we do not even
know which drug was administered to the patients. The council never had any financial or administrative dealing with either Ariand or Majeed. Majeed has never approached us
directly", they say.
But Majeed insists that he has more evidence to
support him: "On September 24, 1993, when the All India
Radio, Delhi, brought out a half-an-hour programme on'The
Challenge of AIDS', where Tripathi clearly stated that the
ICMR is conducting studies on my medicine." The WHO has
already expressed satisfaction over Majeed's creation. But
Majeed fears that the allopathy lobby does not want a
medicine on AIDS. "It is a US $ 3 billion a year business for
them," says Majeed.
"People from all over the world have come to see me.
The maximum retail selling price for the drug abroad will
be us $800," says Majeed. The price per course of 100 days
is Rs 8,400. Immuno QR has been licensed to manufacture
and sell in India, but has not been patented as yet. Majeed is
an unhappy man today. He says, "ICMR has not done anything.
In fact, now they are even denying the protocol and tests.
The state of affairs at the WHO is more deplorable. The tests
of ICMR were well known to them. They have published
the results in their bulletin from Delhi in Julv-August
1993. Now they keep sending me legal notices from Geneva
and Delhi, with the sole intention of killing my medicine.
The billion dollars they get for research, for advice and
awareness and by way of testing, makes them resist my
Immuno QR."
Kin Shein, regional advisor, Essential Drugs, WHO, New
Delhi, feels that Majeed must authenticate his
findings, present them in an international
forum or publish them in the WHO's journals.
Majeed has established contacts with George
Essaey of California, a herbal therapist, who
has tried the drug on 40 patients in US in the
last two years. On February 8, 1995, the
Washington State University Radio gave
Majeed 75 minutes for a talk show on his
manna for the dying. Majeed thinks that this
medicine can also contribute to solving the
balance of payment problem for India:
"Ginseng (traditional herbal stimulant
and tonic) earns for South Korea 40 per cent
of its total foreign exchange. If I am forced to
give my know-how to any multinational
company abroad, the Indian government will
have to raise billions of dollars to import this
medicine."
"At the ICMR, 11 says a source close to the Central Council of
Research in Ayurveda, "jealousy between systems is usual; that
is the main problem with the Council. They cannot tolerate
the fact that some other system is getting the credit for discovering a drug." The case of Pippliyadiyoga (an oral anti-fertility
drug) - rejected by the 'modern lobby' three to four times -
is a pointer.
The need of the hour is research by dedicated people
trained in modern medicine, with strong
basic knowledge of Avurveda. To its credit,
the government has not ignored this area
completely. A department of alternative
medicine is operating from Delhi's
Safdarjung hospital. The government is also
setting up a wing for indigenous systems of
medicine in Delhi.
P M Bhargava, director, department of
biotechnology of the Government of India,
blames the nation's somnolent science lobby
as well as the government. He is sceptical of
Majeed's claim: "Has Majeed tested his drug,
and if so where has he tested it? I n 1993, 1
requested the government to set Up a
commission on AIDS. But to date, nothing has
happened. I blame our scientists for this poor
performance. Actually, the government has
never been pressurised by scientists."
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