AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE government has announced that the consignment of donated herbal medicine from Madagascar that was delivered to Dar es Salaam on Friday will first undergo research and analysis in laboratories before it undergoes clinical trials.
The announcement was made yesterday by Minister for Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi, a day after the government received the medicine from the largest island in Africa.
The minister explained that the consignment of Covid Organics (CVO) ferried was not meant for immediate use to the public as the medicine was required to undergo thorough scientific research and analysis to ascertain its safety and efficacy.
The trials that will be conducted in phases will involve scientists from National for Medical Research (NIMR), Government Chemist Laboratory Authority (GCLA), Ministry for Health as well as experts and doctors on in traditional medicinal plants.
Prof Kabudi said the main task Tanzanian scientists had at hand starting from yesterday was to research and analyse the medicine before administering it to patients.
“I have received countless calls and messages from people asking for CVO; I want to make one thing clear, that they did not provide us with a readymade medicine to start distributing to our people, but have, rather, donated samples to which our scientists are supposed to subject to research and analysis, and thereafter we will provide a way forward,” he further explained, adding:
“Currently, there is no medicine for distribution; they want our scientists to also run such trials for safety and efficacy. To be precise we only have two bottles that will be used for control or comparison.”
The minister further cautioned that they did not go to Madagascar to collect a herbal concoction along the lines of what was nicknamed ‘kikombe cha Babu wa Loliondo’.
It is a scientific medicine, and that’s why he was accompanied by a delegation of experts.
On 8 May 2020, Prof Kabudi flew to Antananarivo to collect a donation of CVO, accompanied by Chief Medical Officer Prof Abel Makubi, NIMR Director, Prof Yunus Mgaya, Chief Government Chemist, Dr Fideli Mafumiko and Head of Traditional and Alternative Medicines Department in Ministry for Health, Dr Paul Muhame.
Prof Kabudi said they received 12, eight red coloured of which consist medicine to be used for prevention, and four green-coloured ones with medicine for treatment.
Elaborating, he said what scientists will be doing on the first consignment wasn’t a new thing to be done in Tanzania as other renowned people had laid a foundation on medicinal plants researches.
He said artemisia plant used as one of the ingredients in CVO was not a new plant as it can also be found in some parts of Tanzania.
“The pioneers of researches on medicinal plants in Tanzania include Prof Mayunga Nkunya, Prof Maulid Ntamila and Prof Mohammed Hassanali; they paved the way for us,” he said.
CVO was officially launched by Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina last month. The drug has been developed by the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research.
On 7 May 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) called for clinical trials of Madagascar’s CVO.
“We are advising the government of Madagascar to take this product through a clinical trial and we are prepared to collaborate with them,” Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, told a media briefing.
South Africa has also expressed willingness to assist Madagascar to undertake scientific analysis of CVO.
Madagascar has so far shipped it to several African countries.
