Against the soaring cost of drugs for certain killer diseases, some locally-manufactured drugs are underway to the rescue; writes SUNNY IDACHABA.
As the cost of orthodox drugs continues to hit the roof tops such that ordinary Nigerians can barely afford them coupled with negative news that have taken over the media space, no one thought that there could be any positive news in the form of invention. However, that trajectory was punctured recently with the news about the production of locally-manufactured drugs to handle diabetes and other related ailments that appeared to have defied every conceivable solution over the years.
At least with this development, many families in the country would begin to heave a sigh of relief because like HIV that ravaged lives in the late 80s up to the 90s, diabetes, excess sugar in the blood, unprocessed starch and all opportunistic illnesses have taken over killing hundreds every year with the old and middle working age- adults losing their lives to what now looks like a pandemic.
New drugs to the rescue
Just recently in Lagos, the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA), a relatively unknown agency under the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, unveiled four locally-formulated drugs for diabetes, sickle-cell anaemia, anti-ageing and antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections.
This is what many had expected an age-long government agency like the Nigeria Pharmaceutical Research and Development Council (NIPRD) to have done years back but failed for inexplicable reasons despite monthly and annual funding.
Blueprint Weekend learnt that the names of these drugs are Namdune (200mg) meant for anti-aging. Namdasan (200mg) for anti-sickling, Aberecin (200mg) for anti-diabetes and Nanobere (50kg) and the unveiling was done by the minister in charge of the ministry, Mr. Geoffrey Nnaji, who thereafter used the opportunity to announce that in line with President Bola Tinubu government’s resolve to invest in research for human development, not only would the government help to mass-produce the drugs, but would be involved in commercialising them in order to help Nigerians and humanity in general.
According to the minister, “Today, the Nigerian National Natural Medicine Development Agency is under my purview and I came to have first-hand information on how they are working and what is going on here because all I’ve been hearing were stories. I’m happy I’ve verified a lot of things that they make. Those that treat arthritis, those that take care of blood and sugar and those that take care of blood pressure, including the four I launched this afternoon, I have seen them all.”
“You can see they have done wonders because we are looking at, first and foremost, one for blood sugar, which is diabetes. You know, it controls diabetes. There’s one for ageing because people like us, if you look at me, I’m not sure of my age. It is this kind of drug that I need to keep looking younger. There’s another one for sickle cell that prevents the sickling of the cells. You know, that one is wonderful. And there’s a fourth one for respiratory tract infection, upper respiratory tract infection that will replace Augmentin, replace Zitromycin. You know, Zitromycin is about 15,000 naira right now, so to speak.
“This product which can replace Augmentin is less than N1, 000 and they are the kind of innovations we want in Science and Technology. That is why President Tinubu said research remains key to national development. This is why we have to have a research and development fund so that if they are there, more research would be done, so you should help us and amplify it,” he said.
To that extent, he said he was proud of the achievement of the agency as according to him, he was more delighted at the level of professionalism in the production of the drugs.
More on the way
According to the director-general of the agency, Professor Martins Emeje, before the end of 2024, more locally formulated drugs that can treat various infections would be introduced to the general public. He was of the opinion that the NNMDA’s research farms across the country are generating positive results which would bring about further invention in many areas of biomedical science. The DG said NNMDA has done all the laboratory animal investigations required as a first stage of experimentation and proved that the products to be produced would be effective based on their animal studies.
Speaking further on some of the new locally-manufactured drugs, he said in particular that the anti-ageing one has the capacity to slow down the ageing process especially in this part of the world where environmental and economic factors influence ageing processes.
While taking pride in the invention he noted with a sense of pride when he said, “Nature is the best laboratory in the world but pride does not allow people who have gone to school to go and study nature.”
Emeje, therefore, urged the federal government to ensure that research grants are not just approved to claimants without what he called a proper research grant proposal.
He said no fewer than 25 million people in Nigeria suffer from sickle cell disease, hence the need for the formulation of the drug.
By October 2024, he said, President Bola Tinubu would launch 11 more pharmaceutical products formulated by the agency, as according to him, those products would eventually create not less than two million jobs.
“Nigeria is the biggest black nation in the world. Nigeria has the highest plant biodiversity in Africa. So, if we are talking of contribution to health in the herbal area, is Nigeria not supposed to be on top? And we, at NNMDA, are very serious about it. All we just need is to allow us to do our work.”
Diabetes, causes and effects
It is said that there are long term effects of diabetes which include to large extent damage to the blood vessels. This can also lead to heart attacks and ultimately stroke. It is also associated with lots of defects in the kidneys, eyes, feet and nerves.
A urologist, Dr. Yusuf Alao, said, “In Nigeria, what is known as diabetic nephropathy is assuming an increasing dimension as the major cause of chronic kidney disease in patients. What is also known as opportunistic diseases like stroke, kidney failure, hypertension are part of the effects of diabetes. That is why everyone should avoid being its victim.”
Of late, many prominent persons have suffered from acute diabetes leading to the loss of their body parts, especially the foot. For some inexplicable reasons, Nigeria appears to bear the greatest burden of diabetes prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths of many Nollywood stars who lost their lives in the past are traceable to diabetes with some having strokes and others kidney failure. A notable Nollywood comedian, John Okafor, popularly known as Mr. Ibu, who died recently suffered similar fate. In his own case, one of his feet was amputated months back due to diabetes-related illness. At the moment, another Nollywood star, Amaechi Muonagor is on sick bed battling to save his life because of kidney problems. Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU), for instance, is a serious and potentially life-threatening complication of this ailment. Although there have been significant improvements in diabetic foot incidence and the outcomes have been recorded in many Western countries in the past decade, in Nigeria, it still remains like a pandemic.
According to Cleveland Clinic, a world-class healthwatch publication, diabetes is a condition that happens when the blood sugar level in the body is too high. This develops when the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin or when the body simply fails to respond to the effect of insulin properly. It however noted that many forms of diabetes are manageable with the right medications and in many situations a change of lifestyle.
It is estimated that about 537 million adults across the world are said to be diabetic. This number, experts say, would rise up to 634 million by the year 2030 and 783 million by the year 2045. It has therefore been discovered that too much glucose circulating in the bloodstream is the major cause of diabetes regardless of the type; however, the reason for glucose level differs depending on the type of diabetes.
It is for reason as above that the innovation of NNMDA in the invention of local drugs for diabetes and other ailments would come as a great relief to many families in Nigeria. This is more so as some major leading pharmaceutical giants hitherto involved in the manufacture of orthodox drugs for diabetes recently left the country because of what they referred to as the unfriendly business environment in Nigeria.
