Traditional Vs Proprietary Ayurvedic Medicine – 7 Differences

There are two basic types of Ayurvedic medicines.
1. Classical medicines / traditional medicines – The formula, method of manufacturing, indications etc of these medicines are present in traditional Ayurvedic text books such as Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita etc. The manufacturing company follows the same formula and prepares medicines.

For example: Chyawanprash, Triphala Choorna, Dashamoolarishta, Chandraprabha Vati tablet etc.
Almost all Kashayams, Churna, Arishtas, Asavas, Lehyas fall into this category.

2. Proprietary Ayurvedic medicines –
They are also known as patent medicines or modern Ayurvedic medicines. The formula, dosage form etc of such a medicine are decided by the manufacturing company. The ingredient combination is not found in traditional Ayurvedic text books. The company itself makes the formula based on reasoning and expertise, conducts clinical trial, research on the medicine about its efficacy in particular diseases, gets license from drug control authorities and  markets the medicine.
For example: Liv 52 tablet of Himalaya company
Most of the capsules, syrups, ointments, etc fall in to this category.

ayurvedic medicines

Often, I am asked to prescribe traditional Ayurvedic medicines only. Some patients believe that because the medicinal formula is traditional and straight from the text book, the medicines are efficacious.

Let us analyze the advantages and disadvantages of these two types of Ayurvedic medicines.
Number of ingredients:
Usually in traditional Ayurvedic medicines, the number of ingredients is more, when compared to proprietary medicines. Many of the ingredients in traditional Ayurvedic medicines are controversial, extinct or very hard to find.

But in proprietary Ayurvedic medicines, the formula contains only a few ingredients, that the company can procure easily. So, the trust on the genuineness  of ingredients is more in proprietary medicines. 

Traditional Ayurvedic Medicine Vs Proprietary (Patent) – Which is better?

Easy to use:
Proprietary medicines have edge over traditional herbal medicines.
Masking the taste – as in capsules Vs Traditional Churnas, Kashayams etc, soft gel capsules containing oils vs oral intake of oils (such as Ksheerabala taila, Gandha taila, Maha raja prasarini taila etc.
improving palatability – as in coated tablets, Syrups etc.

Preservatives:
It is a general misconception that all traditional medicines are totally free of preservatives and additives. But the fact is, all Kashayams sold in Market have preservatives, almost all Lehyams including Chyawanprash have added preservatives.
As long as they are in safer limits, I do not see any problem with both proprietary and traditional medicines.

Manufacturing company’s interest:
If I have a company, and I manufacture Dashamoolarishta, I will have to compete with thousands of companies that manufacture Dashamoolarishtam. The only criterion will be competitive price. It will be a race to the bottom. Whoever gives it in lowest price wins.

But if I make a syrup of my own formula, do genuine research to prove its efficacy and market it, I will be promoting my own brand, my own product.
I will obviously work hard to make the product as genuine and as effective as possible.  I will conduct Continued medical education (CME) programs to doctors to let them know about my product, because, if product clicks, more doctors will prescribe, more patients will benefit, more money I will make.

Extra profit margins:
The profit margins to the medical store owner, to distributor to manufacturer are high in proprietary medicine.

Genuineness of the formula – Test of time:
The Chyawanprashs, Triphalas are there since thousands of years, serving millions of people. But we cannot say the same to Proprietary medicines. They are there since 2 – 3 decades, so, test of time is yet to be made on them.

So, there are pluses and minuses on both sides.
Question is, should you, as a patient, direct your doctor to prescribe only traditional medicines?
The doctor knows what works best and what does not. Doctor knows combinations of medicines that suits the patients most, out of his experience. Hence, it will be best if you leave the doctor to make his decision.
However, because it is your personal choice, you can request the doctor to prescribe traditional medicines only.

Which is more authentic? Traditional medicines or proprietary medicine? 
A reader writes: 
The problem with patent/proprietary medicine is not whether it’s good or bad. Below are a few disadvantages I have come across. The 3rd reason is very important. 
1. We don’t know the composition of patent medicines where as in classical medicines it’s very well mentioned what has to go in it. 
Dr JV Hebbar: 
I am not saying one is better than the other. 
But, we cannot know if the classical medicine is prepared with all the proper ingredients. Chyawanprash has 35+ ingredients. Mahanarayana taila has 20+ ingredients. We can never be sure that the manufacturer is adding all these ingredients. 

Whereas, in a proprietary medicine, the ingredients are often less and it is a unique product of the Ayurvedic pharmaceutical company. So, the company will put maximum effort in making the product really effective. 

2. proprietary medicines are named in short forms like NLP, NRM etc and upon asking the doctor what is the meaning they say its based on composition. and the contents are kept hidden. 
The Ayurvedic doctor can do this even with a traditional medicine. He can just remove the label of Mahanarayana taila and can sell it as a special oil called MNT oil. 

3. proprietary medicine creates a dependency on the doctor. We need to go to the same doctor next time when we face even a minor issue because we don’t know what the contents of the medicine given last time were and what herbs suit the treatment of the present issue. We don’t get the proprietary medicines elsewhere. Big problem, if we are travelling and we fall ill. We don’t know at that time what medicines to take to heal it because all the time we have depended on proprietary medicines. I am completely against proprietary medicines for all the above reasons. 
Numerous proprietary medicines from different companies are available online or in local shops. There is no rule that all proprietary medicines are sold only through the doctors. In this digital age, thousands of proprietary and traditional medicines are available online and can be bought from any part of India. 
Read: Traditional Vs Proprietary Ayurvedic Medicine – 7 Differences

6 comments on “Traditional Vs Proprietary Ayurvedic Medicine – 7 Differences

  • Rajesh

    03/03/2015 - 7:45 pm

    Sir this article is very useful, but I wish to add one point. The proprietary medicines are usually backed by some ‘research’. But in most proprietary medicines, the so called research is so shoddy that any person with a background in allopathic medicine will laugh at the results. The quality of placebos is very poor and so the measurement of placebo response is inadequate and in many cases placebos are not used. The number of patients is very less as compared to a allopathic medicine trial. The trials are single-centre and not multi-centre and so the chance for bias is very high. Also the issue of safety is not properly addressed. Very limited toxicity studies are conducted. In most cases I have seen just 1 to 2 toxicity studies for a medicine. Further, a majority of the toxicity studies are up to acute or sub-chronic toxicity studies only. I have seen hardly any chronic toxicity studies which show the long term effect of the medicines. While I will not say that proprietary medicines don’t work, any reasonable man will say that they should be used a degree of doubt.Traditional medicines which have withstood the test of time seem to best when it comes to both efficacy and safety Please do not think that I am some anti-ayurveda maniac. I am a staunch believer in Ayurveda and have personally benefited from it in the past. I only wish to have a rational.

    PS, Many people will say that Ayurvedic companies don’t have the money to conduct research. A perusal of the turnover of some leading brands may persuade them to reconsider this myth perpetuated by these very companies.

    Reply to comment
  • Priya Gupta

    09/11/2016 - 5:21 pm

    chirantika parna tpasni karita kontya गुणवत्ता नियंत्रण लॅब madhe tapaslya jate

    Reply to comment
  • Irfan Shahid

    08/07/2017 - 11:29 am

    Dear Dr. Saheb

    Thank you for the wonderful article. I need to ask if Ayurvedic Siddha or Unani medicines are registered under Drugs & Cosmetics Act of India or a licensing if sufficient to product products under same act?

    Reply to comment
    • Dr J V Hebbar MD(Ayu)

      11/07/2017 - 9:56 am

      Hi, Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicines are covered under Drugs and Cosmetics Act and rules. You need to apply for license first with the drugs department situated in the state, they come for inspection etc..

      Reply to comment
  • pawan

    02/06/2020 - 3:43 pm

    Sir, I am not against proprietary medicines, but how can we be assure regarding correct qty. mixture of ingredients as per label on box in case of proprietary medicines.

    Himalaya is putting makardawaj, kesar etc.costly herbs in Geriforte tablet (tablet available @ very low price), but who really knows if all the ingredients are put in exact qty. as per label.

    Reply to comment

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