Coronavirus Covid 19 Latest News Around The World
Maryland Based Nigerian Professor Develops Broad Spectrum Antiviral Drug For Coronavirus
Maryland Based Nigerian Professor Develops Broad Spectrum Antiviral Drug For Coronavirus
A Nigerian professor might have found the cure for Coronavirus.
Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has said his ministry would give all the support it could to Prof. Maurice Iwu and his team on their drug discovery project for Corona virus.
Onu gave the assurance on Monday when Iwu, a former Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman and Chairman of Bioresources Development Group, paid him a visit in Abuja.
The minister recalled that some time ago, the ministry charged Nigerian scientists to find solutions to virus.
Onu added that the ministry was happy that Iwu had come to it with the “compound he isolated about five years ago.”
He further said that he was happy that Iwu had already entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States on this project as regards his patents.
He expressed optimism that the “compound’’ would be readily available for certification.
Iwu told the minister that the purpose of his visit was to brief him on his team’s efforts toward finding a treatment for Coronavirus.
He said the lead drug discovery project included the chemical isolation and characterisation of naturally occurring compounds and subjecting them to a bioassays for the identification of potentially useful-drug-led molecules.
He said the approach was the use of a network of eminent scientists and leading laboratories to target particular disease, especially neglected tropical, emergent and orphan diseases.
He also said those included leishmaniasis, Ebola virus, dengue fever virus, chikungunya virus, corona virus and tacaribe virus among others.
Here is what Iwu to Federal Health Minister few days ago.
“Honourable Minister, Sir, I am here to formally brief you about our drug discovery project, which has led to the identification of a potential treatment agent for Coronavirus infections,” he said.
“Your Excellency will recall that when the Ebola virus infection broke out in 2014 many people were surprised that our research group had an experimental lead compound that was identified 15 years earlier in 1999.
“And now with the emergence of a novel Coronavirus in 2019 as Covid-19 we had identified and patented a possible treatment back in 2015. It is very important that we must remain ahead of these emergent infections through research.
“We have under consideration possible dosage forms including a combination product formulation of the three agents (Rhygyfyn) described in our patents as broad spectrum antiviral drug, identified and developed here in Nigeria.
“We are set to introduce the products but our only limitation is finance. As you well know, science is a very expensive undertaking. I will like to plead with you to use your good office to kindly appeal to Nigerians for their support.”
Ace
March 4, 2020 at 2:29 PM
Prof please make the antiviral drug available to CDC in Atlanta. After the verification that it can actually cure the various viruses as claimed, you will surely get the financial support.