Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Tattva on Monday claimed to have found a prevention and treatment for coronavirus, reported IANS. However, the company promoted the drugs – a combination of Ayurvedic and Siddha medicines – as “immunity building” formulations.

During a virtual press conference on Monday, Shankar said doses of the products have been donated to the the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, or AYUSH, for treatment and prevention of Covid-19. “We have been seeing that the hospital beds are also coming to an end,” he said. “We must not create a divide between ancient and modern systems of treatment. It’s time to adopt a holistic approach.”

The company said it had tested the formulations under the guidance of Germany-based Frankfurt Innovation Center for Biotechnology. It added that the formulations were being distributed in Tamil Nadu too.

Ravi Reddy, Tattva’s chief science officer, told The Print that “the results pertain to the in vitro studies using the following Sri Sri Tattva products: Kabasura Kudineer, Amruth, Immugen and Chyawanprash”.

“The study found Kabasura Kudineer tablets were the strongest inhibitor of spike glycoprotein in coronavirus strains, in restricting entry of virus into cells in in-vitro studies,” the company said in its press statement. The spike glycoprotein is the part of the virus that allows it to attach to human cell. In-vitro studies are those conducted in clinical laboratories.

Frankfurt Innovation Center for Biotechnology’s Managing Director Christian Garbe said the firm started the “Ayurgenomics research” project in mid-2020. “Ayurgenomics means using genomic tools for Ayurveda and investigating the correlation of Prakriti (individual psycho-physiological constitution) and Genomics,” he said.

Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved had claimed in June that it had manufactured two drugs that showed 100% effectiveness in coronavirus patients. The Union Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, or AYUSH, had barred Patanjali from promoting these products. However, on July 1, the ministry said the company could sell the products, but only as medicine for “management” of the coronavirus, not for its cure. It is not known what “management” means.

India has over 94 lakh cases of the coronavirus, and more than 1,37,621 deaths, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s latest data.