Nigeria is the first country to shoot down any hopes of efficacy for the Madagascan-manufactured drug Covid-Organics, which the island nation said could cure the coronavirus.
Nigeria’s National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) on Sunday, according to the Anadolu Agency, said that contrary to claims made by the government of Madagascar, Covid-Organics does “not alter the physiology of animals”.
The NIPRD’s director-general, Obi Adigwe, reportedly told a local newspaper after his outfit had submitted their findings to Nigeria’s health ministry: “They are hiding a lot of things and I think it is possible that they know that they don’t have strong science backing up their claim. But our own analysis does not show any proof that it can cure COVID-19.”
Adigwe also described Madagascar’s herbal concoction as a “cough-suppressant” which reduced “cough frequency with the maximum dose tested”.
Issues surrounding Covid-Organics
Nigeria was one of over 10 African countries that committed to trial the efficacy of Covid-Organics in April. Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina launched the concoction in March inviting other African countries to give Covid-Organics.
Madagascar has since gone on to dismember itself from the World Health Organization after the international body suggested that the apparent good news of Covid-Organics should be taken lightly for a lack of scientific evidence.
President Rajoelina also said that the only reason the rest of the world had refused to treat Madagascar’s supposed cure for the coronavirus with urgency and respect was because the alleged remedy comes from Africa.
But since the drug made international news, a lockdown has been reimposed in Madagascar’s central region including the capital, Antananarivo, following a sudden spike in confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.
Troops have been deployed to the affected places to ensure strict adherence to the reintroduction of lockdown. Cases now stand at nearly 7,000, double the figure that were recorded in the weeks when Covid-Organics was hailed by Rajoelina.
