We Have Discovered Cure For Coronavirus- Prof Maurice Iwu

Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Professor of Pharmacognosy, at the University of Nigeria,Nsukka, Prof. Maurice Iwu said that his research group has discovered cure for coronavirus.

The Professor revealed that his group did not just discover a possible cure for COVID 19, but the discovery had been made since 2015. He added that this was necessary because of the need to be ahead in emergent infections through research.

He stated that the drug discovery project started at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and continued in America when he was a visiting scholar at the Division of Experimental Therapeutics of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington DC.

Prof. Iwu further said his research had in 2014 also discovered an experimental lead compound that was identified 15 years earlier in 1999. He briefed the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.

“It is very important that we must remain ahead of these emergent infections through research. The other aspect of our work targets the so-called orphan diseases that are rare diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 people, or disease that has not been adopted by the pharmaceutical industry because it provides little financial incentives for the private sector to make and market new medications to treat or prevent them, and/or diseases that affect mainly the poor.

“The drug discovery project was started at the University of Nigeria Nsukka where I was a Professor of Pharmacognosy and continued in America when I was a visiting Scholar at the Division of Experimental Therapeutics of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington DC USA (1994 -2003).

“Coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -Coronavirus) our approach is the use of a network of eminent scientists and leading laboratories to target particular diseases, especially neglected tropical, emergent diseases and orphan diseases such as Ebola virus and Dengue Fever, among others.”

Onu commended Prof. Iwu for his discovery and said it was a welcome development, further said that, no single Nigerian life should be lost to COVID 19.