Michael Okpara varsity discovers cure for HIV/AIDS
Prof. Francis Otunta, the Vice
Chancellor (VC), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, in Abia,
has confirmed the discovery of a new drug for the treatment and cure of
HIV/AIDS. Otunta told newsmen at the university campus on Wednesday that 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, saying: “He has brought honour to the University and we are proud
of him.” 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. “10 persons living with the
disease, ‘who volunteered’, were made to apply through their doctor to the VC.
“They were treated daily with the
Medicinal Synthetic Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate (50 mg/kg). 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. According to him, 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
Publishers, 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. “If
commercialised, the Medicinal Synthetic Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate would
become an alternative for petroleum to the Nigerian economy.” He added.
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