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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned researchers in various universities against parading unverified medicinal products as suitable for the cure of COVID 19.
NAFDAC was specifically concerned about the recent development in University of Jos (UniJos) where the school authorities claimed it has discovered a herbal tea that can cure COVID-19.
The Agency maintained that it has not approved any herbal remedy for use against COVID-19 in Nigeria, thus warning Nigerians against the consumption of such unapproved drugs as being marketed by the authorities of University of Jos or other individuals against COVID-19.
It also warmed against increased consumption of onions and garlic with the intention of getting stronger protection against COVID-19.
NAFDAC Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, in a statement, on Sunday, confirmed that the Agency has written a warning letter to the authorities of University of Jos threatening to sanction them if they continue to market unregistered drug against COVID-19.
NAFDAC said that UniJos cannot claim they have found COVID-19 drugs unless it has gone through the necessary listing process.
She said: “Research into herbal medicine by the academia is normal but they must recognize the national regulatory authority established to safeguard the safety of Nigerians. They must ensure that the product that they are working on pass through NAFDAC if they want to make it available for human consumption.
“There have been one or two cases where the product was being encouraged to be used by people without going through us. When that happens, we won’t hesitate to sanction the university because they are supposed to go through the national regulatory authority in order to declare it safe for consumption.”
She said that NAFDAC officials had also found out that the institution had been trying to sell the drug to their staff to, perhaps, confirm its efficacy and effectiveness.
“That’s a clear violation of regulatory policies. Nobody should say that this one can cure this or that without going through NAFDAC listing process,” she warned.
The NAFDAC boss further disclosed that many herbal products have been submitted for federal government grants because most of the herbal practitioners lack the required wherewithal to do clinical trial.
“As we speak many of these herbal products are being subjected to review by different agencies of government. In terms of going through clinical trial official protocols, none has come through yet. That doesn’t mean they will not because the process is still on.
“Howbeit, it’s important to note that before a herbal product can be used to investigate whether it could be effective for COVID -19, it must be listed first. Listing involves submission of information about the herbal medicine, the toxicology study of it, the microbial limit test of it.
“When they submit all these, we would confirm them in our laboratory whether the product is safe to use; meaning it’s not toxic, whether it has tendency for microbial growth, we will test that in our lab’’.
The NAFDAC boss added that the Agency often do some physical and piezochemical testings too to whether it has other components that may be used to alleviate some symptoms.
“We also visit the manufacturing site to establish its level of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) compliance. If it does, then we take samples’’.
Prof Adeyeye disclosed that the product is approved as “listed” if everything goes well, adding that ‘Listed’ simply means temporary approval for two years and renewable as a prelude to the clinical trial process.
She, however, warned Nigerians against excessive consumption of onions and garlic with a view to curing COVID–19, stating that too much of garlic and onion could cause bad breath.
She said they may boost the immunity and the person may not be easily susceptible to infection, adding ‘’even with that, you still have to protect yourself. If you eat garlic and onion and don’t use mask you will get COVID-19.
“Also, if you are in a very bad environment; If you dont wash your hands, you will get COVID-19 as well. So, everything has to be put together’’.
