PETER Adigwe, Director General of National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, NIPRD, responsible for the development of drugs and vaccines has disclosed that analysis carried out by the institute on the Madagascar’s herbal cure against the COVID-19 infection did not show evidence it can cure the disease.
Adigwe emphatically stated that COVID-organic touted as cure by the Madagascan government has shown no evidence to the claim that it could cure COVID-19, following analysis performed on the mixture.
He however added NIPRD can come up with a cure in six months, if provided with adequate funds.
”If things all come together and we get the needed funding, within the next six months, we should be able to have something categorical within.”
Earlier in the year during the peak of the pandemic, Madagascar had claimed the COVID Organics cured some people of the disease in the country, despite warnings by the World Health Organisation to allow the elixir undergo clinical trials.
However, responding to questions by newsmen on the result of their research on the herbal portion as reported by TODAYNG, Adigwe said: “The Minister gave us the mandate to find out if COVID Organics can cure COVID-19 and we did not get any evidence that it can.
“This is because our analysis shows there is no evidence that it can cure COVID-19. There is no evidence for that,” he insisted.
He also said that the Madagascan government must be hiding a lot of things as he stated that the nation does not have strong scientific backing to their clams on the herbal portion.
“Well, I cannot tell you what they have done. I can only tell you what we have done here.
“The analysis we gave in our report is more detailed than anything that had come from their country. They are hiding the analysis of their own product. If you go online, you cannot get the level of analysis that we gave.
“They are hiding a lot of things and I think it is possible that they know that they don’t have strong science backing up their claim.”
The NIPRD boss while speaking on efforts being put by his organisation to get cure for the COVID-19, said, ”You know science takes time and it also needs a lot of money. That is what most people don’t understand.”
He reassured Nigerians his organisation is working on a solution that looks promising and have undergone pre-clinical studies and is now being packaged for the clinical trial which he described as a great deal of work.
According to him, “We are moving in a forward direction. We have hope that the product will give a succor.”
Elaborating on the funds available to the agency, Adigwe said there has been increased progress.
”We have submitted letter, they have asked for concept note and we have done that and also submitted full proposal. There is some positive progress but there hasn’t been any release of funds so far.”
President Muhammadu Buhari had also received portions of the drug from Guinea but ordered that the mixture be put through clinical trials before being used.
The Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, had also last month during the daily briefing of the presidential task force, disclosed that the herb was being grown in the country and was a known treatment for malaria.