The University of Jos (UNIJOS) has authorised the use of a
herbal tea, which it said has shown efficacy for the prevention of COVID-19.
In a memo dated January 11, the university senate gave
approval for consumption of the tea, produced in 2020 by the UNIJOS Africa
Centre of Excellence in Phytomedicine Research and Development.
TheCable, however, reports that the National Agency for Food
and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is yet to approve the drug for
use.
Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of NAFDAC, disclosed on Friday that she was not aware of any such approval and would have to check
with the relevant directorate at the agency.
But Simeon Omale, a pharmacologist who is one of the lead
researchers, confirmed that the centre only has a pre-conditional approval —
and not a final nod — for the supplement.
He, however, added that “we have done the research that
NAFDAC needs to ascertain the safety of the product.”
Innocent Emmanuel, chairman of the Nigerian Medical
Association (NMA) in Plateau state, also said that the association
“has not been communicated officially” about the development.
‘HASTY STEP’
In the memo signed by Monday Danjem, UNIJOS registrar, the senate said it deliberated on the herbal tea during its fourth special meeting for the 2019/2020 academic session.
“Senate was informed that the University of Jos Centre for
Excellence in Phytomedicine has produced a home-made herbal tea for the
prevention of COVID-19, and it is sold at an affordable price,” the memo reads.
“Senate directed that the information should be disseminated
to all staff in the University Community for patronage of the herbal tea.”
Findings by TheCable, however, showed that the university
authorities only acted in anticipation of a yet-to-be-given approval from
NAFDAC.
Omale confirmed that while no clinical trial on humans has
been carried out on the herbal tea, “we have done the safety profile (and) it
is very safe.”
“We have done some reasonable research on it. We have done
the safety profile; we claimed anti-inflammatory, we claimed anti-oxidant, we
claimed anti-COVID. We have checked the active ingredients of the herbal tea
against SARS-COV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19, and it has very
good interaction with the virus,” he said.
“Using the fruit flies being used for drug discovery in the
modern world, we tested for the anti-inflammatory that we reported there, and
we have also checked it for anti-malaria. So, those basic experiments have been
done.”
Asked why the university authorised the herbal tea for use
when it is yet to get final approval from NAFDAC, the researcher said with the
urgent nature of the pandemic, “if you have gotten some evidence, there is an
accelerated kind of approval.”
“Herbal medicine is not like the normal orthodox drugs that
you go through various stages of clinical trials. For herbal medicine, as long
as people are taking it and it is safe, NAFDAC will just do a little profile to
check how safe it is and they give you number,” he explained.
“We have done the research that NAFDAC needs to ascertain
the safety of the product; that is the document we are going to present to them
on Monday.”
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