A
scientist at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, in
Abia state southeast of Nigeria has discovered a cure for HIV/AIDS.
File photo
The Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, in Abia
state southeast of Nigeria says it has discovered a new drug for the
treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS, reports The Voice of Nigeria.
According to a statement by Prof. Francis Otunta, the Vice
Chancellor of the university on Wednesday, the finding followed years of
scientific research by the institution.
He said that the breakthrough was made by Prof. Maduike Ezeibe, a
researcher in the university. According to him, Ezeibe had presented the
drug to the University management, Senate and Council, where he
explained the processes he went through to arrive at his finding.
The VC also said that Ezeibe had equally presented the drug to his
colleagues in the medical field and nobody had contradicted his finding. “Prof. Ezeibe is a researcher in Veterinary Medicine and one may wonder how he discovered a drug to cure a human ailment,” he said.
He commended Ezeibe for the breakthrough and for bringing “honour to the University.”
Otunta said that the university was in the process of mass
producing the drug for further clinical trials on persons living with
HIV/AIDS in the country.
Ezeibe, who is a professor of Veterinary Medicine and Clinical
Virology, said that the drug was produced with Aluminum Silicate and
Magnesium Silicate (Synthetic Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate).
He said that the two minerals “are already in use as medicines for the treatment of various animal and human diseases”.
He said that 10 persons living with the disease, “who
volunteered’’, were made to apply through their doctor to the VC,
disclosing that “they were treated daily with the Medicinal Synthetic
Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate (50 mg/kg).”
Ezeibe said that the volunteers were subjected to monthly tests for viral loads and CD4-lymphocyte counts.
“With the antiviral effects of the medicine, its ability to
reach all cells (as nanoparticles) and the lymphocytes, there is no more
hiding place (sanctuary) for HIV,” he said.
He said that the medicine had been used to “potentiate
Ampicilin, Chloroquine, Piperazine and Sulphadimidin, among others, and
could be a major foreign exchange earner for Nigeria, if approved by
relevant authorities.”
According to him, “local and international pharmaceutical companies would find the product as a veritable raw material”.
Ezeibe said that he presented the research findings to the World
Virology Conference in Atlanta in 2015, and Antonio (Texas) in 2016. He
also said that the results of the laboratory tests had been published
in many international scientific journals, including the British Journal
of Medicine and Medical Research, among several others.
He said that he was also about to sign a memorandum of
understanding with a U.S.-based Scientific Research Publishing,
publishers of World Journal of AIDS, for the publication of his book “How I came about the cure for HIV/AIDS”.
Ezeibe, who said that the medicine was patented in August 2014 in
Nigeria, called on the Federal Government to help him to secure
international patency for the drug.
He said: “If commercialised, the Medicinal Synthetic
Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate would become an alternative for petroleum to
the Nigerian economy.”
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