The University of Benin has disowned claims that its researchers have found a cure for HIV/AIDS, following the announcement by the Dean of the School of Basic Medical Sciences, Professor Isaiah Ibeh, that a new drug which was capable of wiping out the virus from a patient in 30 days has been discovered.
Prof. Ibeh, who is the Dean of the
School’s Basic Medical Sciences, said he has conducted trials on five HIV
patients, and the outcome showed the drug, Deconcuction X (DX)–Liquid or
Bioclean 11, has the potency to destroy the virus.
The school’s Provost, College of
Medical Science, Vincent Iyawe, said on Wednesday the school was not
“consulted’ or “carried along” in the research, and said protocols for such
studies were also not followed.
“The school will like to take
credit for a breakthrough, but the school cannot align with the breakthrough
because the university college was not consulted, Mr. Iyawe, a Professor, was
quoted as saying.
He said the findings needed to be
presented to the federal ministry of health and exposed to more comprehensive
clinical trials.
“We are going to take it (drug) to
the clinical laboratory; we are going to take it to the Federal Ministry of
Health because they have a procedure there,” he said. “We’ll probably take it
to NAFDAC because it is a unit or department of the ministry.
“We’ll take it for clinical trial,
and many things we’ll have to do before we can announce that we discovered
something. In fact, we have to take it to the World Health Organization. So
these are the things we are discussing.”
Professor Ibeh, had earlier told
reporters in Benin that the herbal drug had undergone “series of successful
tests”.
He said more volunteers were
undergoing treatment and that the efficacy of the medication, a herbal product,
has been reviewed by US Toxicologists.
Mr. Ibeh’s announcement that the
drug developed by his team could cure AIDS with guarded optimism, and outright
rejection.
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