EBOLA REMEDY: NIPRD lists 15 prospective Herbs for Prevention and Treatment

Against the widespread criticism that Nigerian research institutes are not working towards the development of local drugs to combat the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the Director General, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) Professor Karniyus Gamaniel has identified fifteen likely herbs, which when developed could possibly cure Ebola.

According to him :"As at today, up to 15 of such medicinal plants have been so identified and work is on-going to ascertain their immunogenic and antiviral activities. Efforts are now being stepped up on to provide the specific facilities required for screening and working with the deadly Ebola virus in the institute and to identify competent collaborators on this assignment. Meanwhile, an internal call for research proposals was made in the Institute on Friday 15th of August for Research Fellows to come up with innovative research plans including those responding to this urgent National Health Emergency on EV."

The NIPRD DG, who spoke with topsyoba in an exclusive online chat,noted that the institute has signed a partnership agreement with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in order to work with renown virologist like Prof. Omilabu who has sufficient experience to handle Victims of the EVD.

Asked whether the specie of Tobacco found in ZMapp is available in Nigeria, he said :

"Tobacco is Nicotiana tabacum and it is found in Nigeria. But the strain used for the cultivation of the antibodies used for ZMapp might not be found here. We should know that tobacco plant is not part of the recipe for ZMapp, the plant was only used as carrier to multiply the artificial antibodies which was later extracted from the plant to make the recipe for the treatment. The artificial antibodies used in the ZMappTM treatment were created from a particular tobacco-plant strain found in Australia. The plants were genetically modified to serve as an ideal medium to grow the massive amounts of the antibodies needed for the treatment. The antibodies were then harvested and ground into the green mix used in the serum doses. Charles Arntzen, a plant biotechnology expert at Arizona State University, says that the appropriate viral genes for the antibodies that the scientists want are fused to the tobacco genes, infecting the tobacco with the virus. The plant produces antibodies that are subsequently separated from the plant when it is ground up."