A lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Dr. Auwal Ibrahim, has developed anti-diabetes drugs from local herbs. It was gathered that the research was part of his Ph.D thesis conducted at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.
Speaking yesterday with Daily Trust, Dr. Ibrahim of the Biochemistry Department said: “Basic research on type 2 diabetes is usually hard to execute in African countries, because of some procedural issues and lack of appropriate animal models. Interestingly however, my research was focused on the development of more effective and less toxic remedies against the type 2 diabetes. More specifically, the work focused on the validation and development of anti-diabetes plant-based remedies as well as the identification of novel chemical leads from African plants”.
He added: “I used a number of molecular techniques to demonstrate the potentials of some African plants in the management of type 2 diabetes. Overall, the findings of the work are important for relevant government agencies, pharmaceutical industries, scientific community and poor diabetic patients, because it might open an avenue for the development of viable and cost effective herbal products or novel drugs to manage type 2 diabetes”.
The lead supervisor of the research, Dr. Shahidul Islam, said
Ibrahim’s work was remarkable not only for its innovation, “but also because two of his three Ph.D thesis examiners suggested that the work be accepted without any corrections”.

Good....but now on to the phase 1-3 testing...so that we can see if it works compared to other drugs....and establish its safe dose.

Good job, Don. I hope it passes the trial stages.

front page pls. . let people know that good things still happen in naija. yes a lot of tins might be wrong with us, many things are right too.

This is great news. Alright, clinical trials, both in Africa and abroad.

We need people to fund it. Funding it now means money for you in the future, once the drug is on the market. This is how big Pharma companies start.

Observing...