Question : Treatment of Vitiligo under AYUSH

Will the Minister of AYURVEDA, YOGA AND NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY (AYUSH) be pleased to state:

(a) whether there has been a considerable rise in the number of patients suffering from vitiligo and if so, the reasons therefor;

(b) whether any breakthrough has been achieved for the treatment of said disorder under the Unani system of treatment and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has approved clinical trials of certain medicines under AYUSH systems of medicine especially under Unani system of treatment for such disorders and if so, the details thereof;

d) whether there is any problem to take patent rights for Unani medicines, if so, the reasons therefor and the corrective measures taken by the Government in this regard along with the number of Unani medicines which have taken patent rights so far; and

(e) the time by which such medicines would likely to be available in the market?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF AYURVEDA,
YOGA & NATUROPATHY, UNANI, SIDDHA AND HOMOEOPATHY
(SHRI SHRIPAD YESSO NAIK)
(a) & (b): The Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) has enrolled 8871 patients during 2015-16 and 13598 patients during 2016-17 in different OPDs of the CRIUM, Hyderabad. Council has conducted clinical s tudies on Vitiligo and developed effective

Contd………




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treatments for this disease. Two combinations of the drugs viz, UNIM-001 (Oral) + UNIM-003 (Local) and UNIM-004 (Oral) + UNI M-005 (Local) showed significant therapeutic effects in this disease. These drugs have been made available to the patients at the clinical centres as Post Trials Accessibility of the drugs in the PTA OPD till such time patent is granted. Provisional patents have already been filed.

(c): The trails on certain medicines have been recommended by the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) of CCRUM for the treatment of such disorders.

The Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) has undertaken 03 observational studies on Vitiligo.

(d) & (e): In accordance to the new patent policy 2013 for herbal drugs, patent cannot be granted for the drugs that have been made by administering various ingredients for which references of its ingredients are available in the classical literature. This is the main hurdle to bring the drugs in the market. CCRUM has been awarded patents for Ten drugs by the year 2017. The process of commercialization of the medicines developed by the CCRUM has already been initiated in collaboration with National Research Development Corporation (NRDC).
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