The plant-based patented treatment for COVID-19 has been presented to Nigeria’s Minister of Science and Technology, giving hope for the treatment of the pandemic as soon as the testing of the medication is completed.
The professor of Pharmacognosy from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), who is also the Chairman of the Imo State Taskforce on COVID-19, Prof. Maurice Iwu, presented the drug to the minister, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, on Wednesday in Owerri.
The renowned professor, who did a research into the medicinal value of bitter kola, said the treatment was also being tested in United States.
Iwu, who also spoke after Seplat Petroleum and Waltersmith Oil donated COVID-19 preventive material to the state government, reported that that there was a positive sign that the treatment would be ready soon.
“The work on the drug we are developing is still going on. We are encouraged by the result we are getting. We are getting very positive signs.
“Luckily, the drug is a safe one. It is drug already in use. We are repurposing it for this particular purpose. So when we finish studying and testing that we are doing, I think the drug will come up in line very soon,” he said.
If the pandemic escalates, he explained that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) would fast track the use of Chloroquine.
MM/GIK/APA