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Indeed, no prophet is appreciated at home. Dislike and hatred for a prophet is more among his own. The bible said so, not me. But generally, the worth of a man is not measured in pounds and dollars; houses and cars or the size of his neck and stomach but by how much his actions positively affect humankind. It is for this particular reason that Maurice Iwu, a professor of Pharmacognosy and President of Bioresources Institute of Nigeria, will continually hold a place on the positive side of scientific development of Nigeria.
As a scientist, Iwu rose to the challenge of the threat of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria when it became necessary in 2014. His expertise in the use of available local herbs to develop cure and, management, of a wide range of health challenges set him up for a national assignment which saw the federal government of the time, along with some state government, financially back his research into the use of bitter kola for the treatment of the virus. Bitter kola is commonly available in Nigeria. Many eat them just to clear the throat and manage cough not knowing other possibilities nature had built into them. But Iwu’s expository work on the potentials of the kola in the management of Ebola Virus changed the narrative.
Some doubted his thesis. However, none has gone beyond armchair critic of his findings to scientifically prove him wrong. To that extent, his thesis that bitter kola has capacity to manage Ebola remains validly intact. Interestingly, Iwu has not allowed negative insinuations about his research on bitter kola to deter him. He continued work on his projection and is today the proud owner of patent number NG/P/2015/84. The patent is for Akiiluvir which Prof. Iwu developed for the treatment of Ebola Virus Disease from the laboratory of his Bioresources Institute of Nigeria (BION). The patent was approved by National Office for Technology Acquisition (NOTAP) which on July 6, 2018 invited Iwu to an event where the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, formally presented him with three patents.
The patents were for “Andrographolides for the treatment of Ebola Virus disease, Dengue Fever and other viral infections” with patent number NG/P/2015/97 and, ‘alstonine for the treatment of Ebola Virus Disease and SARS Coronavirus” with patent number NG/P/2015/85. Iwu is also the proud owner of two certificates of registration of patent with certificate number 004991 and 005177 with date of patent as March 14, 2015 and March 16, 2015. As far as the Registrar of Patents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is concerned, the patents numbered as above belong to Prof. Maurice Iwu.
He couldn’t have earned those patents by subterfuge. He worked hard to achieve them. Despite his call to national service on the political turf, Prof. Iwu has remained deeply attached to his scientific work through which he had churned out a lot of herbal remedies which are helping many people around the world to manage their health. He explains: “BDG (his private organization) is probably the largest private research organization in Africa devoted to natural products research and development. Our focus is on neglected tropical diseases, emergent infections and orphan diseases. We operate four organic farms in different parts of Nigeria; the International Center for Ethnomedicine and Drug Development (Intercedd) at Nsukka; and a Bioprocessing Centre at Umuna-Okigwe, Imo State. We have successfully researched and identified 16 lead drug candidates and developed 22 phytomedicines, including the antiulcer agent Syferol – IHP which was clinically evaluated at Nnamdi Azikiwe College of Medicine for the treatment of gastric ulcers, Physogen for the control of diabetes and Immunovit – IHP for promotion of immune health and management of cancers and chronic diseases We have authored four books on medicinal plants, including the highly cited “Handbook of African Medicinal Plants”, (Taylor and Francis, First Edition 1994; Second Edition 2014) and “Food as Medicine – Functional Food Plants of Africa”, (2016).”
Added to them, Prof. Iwu also discovered compounds which are vital in the management of Coronavirus. This he did during research into herbal remedies for Ebola in 2014/2015. Of course, he has patented the invention. He explained the scientific feat thus: “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”. So, how did he know of Coronavirus as far back as 2015?
He explains: “The drug discovery project was started at the University of Nigeria Nsukka where I was a Professor of Pharmacognosy and continued in America when I was a visiting scholar at the Division of Experimental Therapeutics of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington DC, USA (1994-2003). It was reactivated in 2014/2015 during the Ebola Virus epidemic and we collaborated actively with leading laboratories from different parts of the world, which led to the confirmation of the anti-Ebola virus activity of three structurally characterized compounds from Nigerian plants which were subsequently granted patent protection by the Federal Government of Nigeria -(NG/P/2015/84; NG/P/2015/85; and NG/P/2015/97). During the antiviral bioassays in 2014-2015 it was discovered that the compounds exhibited significant antiviral activity against the SARS -Coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -Coronavirus).”
The fact here is that Iwu would not have made a claim to a patent that he does not have. However, it is one thing to have discovered a drug and another thing to have them in drug stores. The fact of having a patent is however, an invitation to investors. If investors put their money behind the patents, they will reap the rewards. That is the message Prof. Iwu took to the Science and Tech Minister, Dr. Onu, last Monday. His call for investments into the patents is simply a way of telling the world that there is need for more funding to develop the patented rights. This is usually a huge challenge for inventors.
I guess this is why the recent interest of the United States of America on Iwu’s discoveries makes sense. The health sector in the US is interested in Iwu’s discoveries. He explains: “We have concluded arrangements with the Antiviral Program of the US National Institute of Health (US-NIH) to subject the compound to bioassay against the Wuhan Coronavirus (Also known as Covid-19, 2019-nCoV or 2019 Novel Coronavirus).” Indeed, on “Thursday 27th February 2020, the Bioresources Institute of Nigeria, executed a Non-Clinical Evaluation Agreement (NCEA) with the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID), part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), an institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is a component of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), an agency of the U.S. Government”, over the discoveries.
This is immeasurable honour. It speaks volumes about how we, as a nation, treat ourselves. No nation that devours its own grows. If Nigeria’s quest to become a global economic force is a serious quest, Nigeria would have come to the realization that oil and gas cannot lead the charge any longer. Intellectual property, which has been a gold mine for countries that understand, and appreciate, its transformative powers, is the way to go. Intellectual property is wealth. Nigeria ought to find a way to tap into it to grow its economy. That is what Prof. Iwu, and some others, presents before their country which sadly prefers to focus its gaze on oil and gas in the Niger Delta and Bauchi basin. We just have to note that when oil and gas dry up, the intellect will not.
