This is just as the federal government yesterday said it has
concluded the training of about 40,739 health workers across the nation for the
phase two vaccine roll out.
The Director General of the National Agency for Food and
Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who revealed
government’s planned local manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines while speaking on
ARISE News Channel’s ‘The Morning Show,’ also said the agency has commenced
clinical trials on three local herbal medicinal products for the treatment of
the virus.
Adeyeye said the government was concerned about the absence
of medicine security and its implications for the healthcare needs of the
people.
She said the federal government was particularly worried
about current challenges posed by inadequate supply of the vaccines to take
care of millions of Nigerians, adding that the government was working
diligently to start local manufacturing of the vaccine.
When asked to give update on the plan to establish a factory
in Nigeria that would undertake local manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines,
Adeyeye said: “In terms of local manufacturing, the federal government is
working assiduously to ensure that there will be local manufacturing of
vaccines within a year.”
According to Adeyeye, with less than two per cent of the
country’s population vaccinated so far, the federal government was conscious of
the constraints posed by lack of drug security.
Adeyeye further said NAFDAC has initiated a process to
develop herbal medicine products in the country by setting up the Herbal
Medicine Product Development Committee to advance the development of herbal
medicine.
She added that the purpose was to bring herbal medicine
practitioners and researchers together so as to subject their products to
scientific investigation.
She described the development of herbal medicine as a very
complicated process.
According to Adeyeye, NAFDAC undertakes a rigorous process
in approving herbal medicines for the listing by inspecting the premises of the
practitioner to ensure that it meets the required hygienic standards
She also said the agency runs a number of relevant tests
before approving herbal medicine products for listing.
In addition, Adeyeye disclosed that NAFDAC has so far
commenced clinical trials on three herbal medicine products with a view to
confirming their efficacy for the treatment of COVID-19.
“Since the outbreak of COVID-19, we have approved 45 herbal
medicines for listing for temporal approval but you cannot say that they cure
COVID-19. Out of these numbers, two or three herbal medicine products have
started clinical trials,” she said.
Adeyeye said listing a product only means that it is now
safe for consumption but does not confirm how efficacious such a medicine would
be until it is subjected to clinical trials.
“It does not confirm how efficacious such herbal drug is
until it is subjected to clinical trials. To do clinical trial, it has to be
well designed. It is not just that I gave it to 10 people in my village and it
worked, but you have to do it in such a way that it will attract recognition
across the world. That clinical trial stage is what is going on now,” she said.
Adeyeye also spoke of the Central Bank of Nigeria assisted
initiative known as the Research and Development Intervention Scheme which
provides funds to assist local production of medicine.
“It cost a lot of money, that is why the CBN is helping to
put some money into this intervention scheme for those who are successful
during the grant review process,” she added.
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