A professor of veterinary medicine in Nigeria has succeeded in producing cure for HIV/AIDS two years after he presented his breakthrough to World Virology Conference in Atlanta in 2015, and Antonio (Texas) in 2016 for confirmation.
No fewer than 10 HIV/AIDS victims also volunteered to be administered the drug produced with Aluminum Silicate and Magnesium Silicate (Synthetic Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate).
Prof. Francis Otunta, vice chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, in Abia, confirmed the discovery to newsmen during the week.
He said that the breakthrough was made by Prof. Maduike Ezeibe, a researcher in the university.
According to him, Ezeibe had presented the drug to the University management, Senate and Council, where he explained the processes he went through to arrive at his finding.
The VC also said that Ezeibe had equally presented the drug to his colleagues in the medical field and nobody had contradicted his finding.
He commended Ezeibe for the breakthrough, saying: “He has brought honour to the University and we are proud of him.”
Otunta said that the university was in the process of mass producing the drug for further clinical trials on persons living with HIV/AIDS in the country.
He said that the two mineral ingredients of the drug are already in use as medicines for the treatment of various animal and human diseases.
“With the antiviral effects of the medicine, its ability to reach all cells (as nanoparticles) and the lymphocytes, there is no more hiding place (sanctuary) for HIV,” the researcher said.
He added 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.
The results of the laboratory tests had been published in many international scientific journals, including the British Journal of Medicine and Medical Research, among several others.
He is also about to sign a memorandum of understanding with a U.S.-based Scientific Research Publishing, publishers of World Journal of AIDS, for the publication of his book
“How I came about the cure for HIV/AIDS”.
Ezeibe, who said that the medicine was patented in August 2014 in Nigeria, called on the Federal Government to help him to secure international patency for the drug.
“If commercialised, the Medicinal Synthetic Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate would become an alternative for petroleum to the Nigerian economy,” he said.