By Ola ‘Kiya, Reporting
THE herbal Virucidine Liquid for the management of COVID 19 presented by Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), has scaled through the test carried out by the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR).
Director General of NIMR, Prof Babatunde Salako, at the presentation of the liquid, said the ABUAD Virucidine Liquid has the potential for the treatment of COVID-19 in patients.
Dr Babatunji Emmanuel Oyinloye (right)
Obviously exited, Salako lauded the ABUAD initiative, saying various therapeutic and non-therapeutic measures have been deployed to curtail the spread and impact of COVID-19.
According to him, the ABUAD Virucidine Liquid could be Nigeria’s contribution to ongoing global efforts to stem the scourge that recorded thousands of deaths in its wake.
“I want to make people aware of the success that we have made, especially as the drug that we are looking at is home grown.
“So it is like the Nigerian homegrown solution for a disease that has ravaged the world.
“Even though we are at preliminary stage, our findings show that this is very promising and what we need to do is to move on to the next stage, which is to conduct the same study in larger numbers of people; it is after that that the regulatory agency will be confident to register it as a treatment for COVID-19.
“For now, we see it as a promising drug. What we can say today is that we have herbal therapy that is looking promising and requires further tests.
“The extract was sent to us for toxicity evaluation for its safety, efficacy and tolerability.
“The results from the studies lead us to recommend a full clinical trial of ABUAD Virucidine Liquid and its possible addition as a herbal management to COVID-19 treatment in Nigeria, pending the results of the full clinical trials,” he noted.
Speaking at the occasion, Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, ABUAD, Idowu Omotuyi, said the country must not always wait for foreign solutions for its health challenges.
“While the world is looking for a drug that could help with COVID-19, ABUAD, which is one of the major universities in Nigeria, has developed something for COVID-19.
“And so it was presented to a third party, which is NIMR, to test, validate and share the findings with us.
“Everything here today is a manifestation of the efficacy of what we have developed in ABUAD.
“Nigerians should note that COVID-19 is not going anywhere, so ABUAD Virucidine is one of the therapeutic options for COVID-19.
“The way Virucidine works is to block SARS-Cov-2 from assessing the tube which is your body,” he disclosed.
Omotuyi, however, called on the Federal Government to partner with ABUAD in the development of indigenous solutions to local health challenges.
“Virucidine is just a tip of what can come out of ABUAD; this is telling the world of the possibilities and the capacities available at ABUAD,” he enthused.
In a presentation of the Proof-of-Concept clinical trial of the ABUAD herbal liquid, Deputy Director of Research, NIMR, Dr Agatha David, said out of 72 participants screened for the trials, 44 enrolled, and 43 (97.7 per cent) of the enrolled participants completed the study.
“The main symptoms at enrolment were cough (65.0 per cent), fever (55.8 per cent), and sore throat (46.5 per cent). A higher proportion of participants in the Virucidine arm were SARS-CoV-2 negative by day 3 (61.5 per cent and by Day 7 92.3 per cent were negative.)
“All participants were SARS-CoV-2 negative by Day 14. A significantly higher proportion of participants on Virucidine were also symptom free by Day 7 compared to the control group (88.5 per cent versus 52.9 per cent).
“The findings also revealed that the ABUAD Virucidine Liquid was well tolerated and there were no serious adverse events, clinical deterioration or death through the 28 days of follow-up,” David said.
Stonix News reports that experts at the ABUAD Virucidine Liquid’s evaluation presentation said lots of herbal preparations were commonly used in homes in Nigeria, advocating for the development of in-house therapy to conquer diseases.
Recall that founder of ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, during the 12th anniversary of the citadel of learning in January 2022, had announced that no fewer than 19 Covid-19 positive patients were confirmed cured when administered with the ABUAD Virucidine Liquid.
Stonix News reports that ABUAD Virucidine Liquid was developed under the leadership of the Director of Institute for Drug Research and Development, ABUAD, Prof. Olaposi Idowu Omotuyi.
Dr Babatunji Emmanuel Oyinloye at the event
Dr Babatunji Emmanuel Oyinloye, an Associate Professor, who works as the Deputy Director, Institute for Drug Research and Development, ABUAD, is also a member of the team.
