Researchers
Minister inaugurates committee on coronavirus herbal cure
The Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, has inaugurated a Committee on Covid-19 Herbal Remedies and Natural Compounds. The Minister who emphasised the threats posed by COVID-19 to the health and well-being of Nigerians and the national economy reiterated the urgent need to develop a home-grown remedy and vaccine to tackle it. Speaking at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja, Onu said the Committee, made up of eminent scientists and fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) will work to authenticate claims by researchers, scientists, and traditional medical practitioners of cure and herbal remedy for COVID-19. The Minister urged members of the Committee to vigorously scrutinize and evaluate all claims brought before it, adding that it should identify the remedies with ...
Presymptomatic coronavirus patients can contaminate environments – study
Coronavirus was detected on several surfaces in hotel rooms where two presymptomatic Chinese students were quarantined before being diagnosed with the disease, according to a study released on Monday. For the study, published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), researchers in China examined the hotel rooms of the two students, who returned to China from studying abroad on March 19 and March 20. They did not display any virus symptoms at the time and were transferred to a hotel for 14 days of quarantine. On the morning of the second day in quarantine, they remained presymptomatic but both tested positive for COVID-19 and were hospitalized. About three hours after they tested positive, the researchers sampled various surface...
No ‘miracle cure’ for coronavirus until clinical trials prove Madagascar’s herbal medicine
Scientists are putting an herbal remedy from Madagascar, purported to cure COVID-19, to the test. Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, in Potsdam, are collaborating with a U.S. company, ArtemiLife, to test an extract from the plant Artemisia annua to determine its effectiveness in speeding recovery from the virus. “We are working with two independent laboratories to ensure the highest possible quality and exclude any bias in the results,” Peter Seeberger, lead researcher, told VOA in an email response. Seeberger is hopeful the first results will be back soon. “We have collected a significant body of data but are again repeating the work to make sure any results are reproducible multiple times,” he said. “Within the next couple of weeks, we will be in a ...
Mojisola Adeyeye: NAFDAC committed to supporting coronavirus treatment initiatives
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it is committed to supporting any intervention aimed at facilitating the treatment of the COVID-19. The Director General of the agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday. According to Adeyeye, part of the efforts to advance herbal products development for the treatment of COVID-19 informed the setting up of the Nigerian Herbal Medicine Product Committee (HMPC). She said that the platform had brought together manufacturers, academics, researchers and relevant stakeholders by bridging the gap created between traditional medicine practitioners and drug manufacturers. “This collaboration brokered by the agency aims at translating research of herbs into products of commerce with pr...
NAFDAC warns against use of Chloroquine for coronavirus treatment
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has, again, warned Nigerians against taking Chloroquine as treatment for Coronavirus (COVID-19). “Nobody should buy Chloroquine and use it. If you have COVID-19, go to a doctor. We have warned Nigerians and shall do that again. Do not take Chloroquine,” Mojisola Adeyeye, NAFDAC’s Director General, told newsmen on Thursday in Abuja. “The delay in approving some of the drugs for treatment of the virus is because of the clinical trials the agency is carrying out on them. “So far, no group or individual has proffered any solution to the treatment or management of the pandemic,” she said. Mrs Adeyeye, a professor, said the Chinese government carried out lots of trials on Chloroquine before it approved its use for treatmen...
NAFDAC explains position on claims for coronavirus remedies
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that the rush to mitigate the mortality and morbidly resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in acceleration of product development, repurposing of formulations, off label use of therapeutics and the search for a vaccine to prevent COVID-19. The agency however noted that it has only received application from one company for a product the company is presenting (for approval) to the Agency for the treatment of the symptoms of Covid-19, and not for the cure of Covid-19 as a disease. In a statement yesterday in Abuja, Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye stated that in a bid to discover a cure for Covid-19 disease, the public has witnessed quite a number of claims from differen...
Godwin Emefiele: Central bank ready to support home grown vaccine
Bloomberg Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN,), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has announced that the apex bank is ready to support researchers, science-based institutions and biotechnology firms with N100 billion grant in the quest for a homegrown vaccine to fight COVID-19 in Nigeria. Emefiele, who spoke at the commissioning of ThisDay Dome Testing, Treating, Tracing and Isolation Centre in Abuja, said the pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on the global economy, impacting all nations big and small. According to him, so far, the Coalition Against COVID-19, (CACOVID) has raised over N27billion to fund this initiative. He said the donation received so far are being used to build well-equipped isolation centres across the 36 states of the federation. ”’The ThisDay Dome Testing, Treating, Tra...
PTF: NAFDAC screening local cures for coronavirus
The Federal Government said yesterday it has evaluated claims by local researchers that they have manufactured curative drugs for COVID-19. It explained that having met preliminary requirements, the drugs had been forwarded to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, for listing. National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force for COVID-19, Dr. Sani Aliyu, had restated the federal government’s position on Wednesday that no cure had been found for the disease. The government also expressed worries over the continued repatriation of Almajiriai by states, saying the development could fuel a spike in infections. On compliance with general safety protocols put in place against the virus, the federal government asked security agencies not to cut corners, addi...
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