LUCKNOW, India—According a recently published Indian study, KalmCold™ (from Natural Remedies), an extract of Andrographis paniculata, was effective in reducing symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) (Phytomed. 2010; 17(3-4):178-185). The double blind, placebo-controlled clinical study randomized 223 patients of both sexes into two groups to receive either 200 mg/d of KalmCold or placebo.
In both the treatments, mean scores of all symptoms showed a decreasing trend from day 1 to day 3, but from day 3 to day 5 most of the symptoms in placebo-treated group either remained unchanged (cough, headache and earache) or got aggravated (sore throat and sleep disturbance), whereas in KalmCold treated group all symptoms showed a decreasing trend. Within groups, mean scores of symptoms in both the groups decreased significantly (P≤0.05) from day 1 to day 3 and day 5, while from day 3 to day 5 all symptoms except expectoration in placebo group did not improve significantly, whereas in KalmCold treated group all symptoms improved significantly (P≤0.05) except earache. Comparing mean between both groups, all symptoms at day 1 and day 3 were found to be the same, while at day 5 all symptoms except earache in KalmCold treated group improved significantly (P≤0.05) than placebo group. Similarly, within groups, overall scores of all symptoms in both the groups decreased significantly (P≤0.05) from day 1 to day 3 and day 5, while from day 3 to day 5 placebo group did not improve significantly, whereas KalmCold treated group showed significant improvement (P≤0.05). On between groups analysis, KalmCold group showed significant reduction (P≤0.05) in overall symptom scores as compared to placebo group. In both placebo- and KalmCold-treated groups, there were only a few minor adverse effects with no significant difference in occurrence (Z = 0.63; P>0.05). The comparison of overall efficacy of KalmCold over placebo was found to be significant (P≤ 0.05) and it was 2.1 times (52.7 percent) higher than placebo.
