The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, in a text message sent through Boade Akinola, the Director, Media & Public Relations at the Ministry of Health, has said that he was not aware of the discovery of a cure for HIV/AIDS by Maduike Ezeibe, a Professor of Virology at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State.

“I’m not aware of his claims. There are standard ways of disseminating such information. The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, in conjunction with the College of Medicine University of Ibadan, has been mandated to verify two claims of cure for HIV in Nigeria. We shall make our findings public when ready,” PUNCH quoted the message as saying.

In a statement on Wednesday, Prof. Francis Otunta, the university’s Vice Chancellor, announced ‘the discovery of a drug for the treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS by the institution’.

Ezeibe had said that the medicine had been used to potentiate Ampicilin, Chloroquine, Piperazine and Sulphadimidin, among others, and could be a major foreign exchange earner for Nigeria, if approved by relevant authorities.

According to Ezeibe, “local and international pharmaceutical companies will find the product as a veritable raw material”.

Credit: PUNCH