OOU Produces anti-COVID-19 Herb, Awaits NAFDAC Approval

The Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun, on Tuesday, said it had produced a herbal syrup for the prevention, treatment and management of coronavirus.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Ganiyu Olatunde, made the disclosure at a press briefing, held at Ago-Iwoye.

Olatunde said that the product, tagged “OOU-Anjo Anti- COVID-19 herbal syrup”, was developed by a team of researchers from the institution, in partnership with Anjola Herbal Company Limited.

The vice chancellor added that three other products, namely automated hand sanitiser dispenser, personal hand sanitiser and face masks, were also produced by the institution.

He explained that samples of the herbal syrup had been submitted to the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for approval.

Olatunde assured that the syrup would be released to the Nigerian market as soon as an approval was granted by NAFDAC.

He said that the syrup and the other products were part of the institution’s achievements in the areas of teaching, research and community development during the lockdown.

“Our university is one of the core institutions that engage in research into the COVID-19 pandemic. And in partnership with Anjola Herbal Company Limited, which is one of our partners in herbal medicine, we have been able to produce an anti-COVID-19 herbal syrup.

“I can assure you that it went through all the necessary protocols that you can have in trying to produce herbal syrup.

“Since the era of Ebola, our health centre and the Department of Chemistry have been involved in the production of hand sanitiser.

“We also have some sections of the university that engage in the production of face masks and face shields, which are being requested for by a number of organisations across the country,” he said.

Dr Joseph Ashudi, the acting Director, Research, Linkages and Advancement of the institution, described the syrup as anti-bacteria, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory and anti- coagulant. Ashidi, one of the researchers, said that the product was formulated based on results of post-mortem researches conducted on those who died of COVID-19 infection.

He, however, explained that the research team had no access to COVID-19 patients for laboratory test with the syrup.

“They said we cannot have access to COVID-19 patients because of the nature of that disease. We then relied on postmortem reports that we carried out and we came up with many symptoms,” he said.