 The efficacy of the herbal drug to combat COVID-19 developed by Afebaba Lola University at Dwekiti has been put to test as 19 patients of the dreaded disease have recovered through the usage of the drug. The founder of the university, Are Afebaba Lola, said this during a ceremony commemorating the 12th anniversary of the establishment of the university. Afebaba Lola said the number of those healed by the herbal drug is increasing by the day since its approval a few weeks ago by the National Agency for Food Administration and Control NAVDAC. He said over the years, the research department of the university has been churning out meaningful discoveries aimed at solving the socio-economic problems of the country. And we have Professor Okwemi Posi, a Motoyi, Director of Research at Afebaba Lola University at Dwekiti joining us to discuss this. Good evening, Professor. It's happened again. What happened again? It's happened again. Did I murder your name? I'm sorry. Of course you did. Of course you didn't murder my name. Forgive me. But let's talk about the good news. Congratulations. This has demonstrated to the world that the solutions to deriving COVID-19 may not be far-fetched after all. But could indeed be found by African scientists. Tell us more about your recent success on this herbal drug. How long did it take your team to come up with this? Thank you very much for having me on your TV tonight. It's actually like a journey of six years. I was at Nagazaki University Therapeutic Innovation Center where I did my second doctorate in pharmaceutical science and that was the first experience I had with viruses, working with viruses or drug development around viruses. And of course, we tried a lot with Ebola, we also tried a lot with LASA coming back to Nigeria 2016. And when 2019 coronavirus disease came, the university assembled a team to look for homegrown solutions to this problem. One of the things that we did very quickly was to start spraying plants, you know, of divers' origins, but of course of African descent. Out of that, we were able to discover two, you know, that had, you know, so-called opportunities and lack of toxicity, you know, those combinations. And of course, the first publication from us was using was Aframomo meleguata, maybe you saw that online. Just recently, the five universities in the United States came together to find out if that was actually true. And what they discovered was very modern. You could probably see that online now that the Atari from, you know, Yoruba Aframomo meleguata was not just capable of taking care of SARS-CoV-2 in cell culture, but also SARS-CoV-1. And of course, what we now have with this current discovery is even more potent than what we had with Atari that is Aframomo meleguata. And I will quickly tell you the biomedical research, you know, that supported our clip number one, with the ability to stop ROBD and ACE2 interaction. ROBD is the component of SARS-CoV-2 responsible for attaching to host cell. And if it finds a way to do that, it's also has the capacity to inhibit an under-protein confluent that is actually required to process the entry into the virus. And if it does succeed at entering into the virus, one of the components of our drug has the capacity to stop what is called the main protease is most important enzyme required for maturation and packaging of the virus within the cell. And if eventually all the three fails and the virus is, you know, able to elicit some kind of vipar inflammatory responses, we also have a component of that about therapy capable of downing the ipan inflammatory responses. So when we piece all these four together, we are able to look at the efficacy of our drug. It gives more to stage steps in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. And that's the reason why we are very successful at using this to treat people who have COVID-19. We understand that it has been approved by NAVDAC. What hospital were the trials done? It has been approved by NAVDAC, right? It has been listed by NAVDAC. That's correct. So we have a number for it now, yes. OK. So what hospital were the trials done? Well, right now, I have to also give you some kind of background around that. Number one, I've been learning decimals in some hospitals, probably one of the best hospitals in Nigeria today. So that is one of the centers that we have quickly tried out. But of course, that is like being a judge in our own case. That is not good enough. So right now, we are already with what is called the Nigeria Institute for Medical Research in Neman Lagos. I'm actually in Lagos right now for that meeting this afternoon. We are going into a partnership with Neman. Neman has, you know, a statutory responsibility to test drugs out on behalf of the government. And of course, we want them to validate what we have done, sorry, what we have said about our claims. And I think once their results come out, it's going to further strengthen our position in taking the university into the world and saying Nigeria has a solution to COVID-19 at this time. And do not forget, there is nothing that Oxford University in the UK has done that Abwad is not doing right now. Finding solutions. And that's exactly what the university be doing. That's exactly what we are doing. Thank you. We hear that Abwad Hubble, how do you call it? Viridicidine? Virucidine. Virucidine. Virucidine, like viral seeding. Virucidine. OK. That is an immune booster and antioxidant for coronavirus and other viral infections, which can also be used as anti-inflammatory agent. What other infections can it cure? Well, one of the things that we like to do as scientists is not to make a claim of 200 diseases that a particular solution can cure. We never try to make that kind of mistake. We want to stay focused on the kind of research that we have done and what we have. Because of the chemical components or the chemical components of this preparation, it could go, you know, work as an antioxidant. It could boost the immune system. It could have an anti-inflammatory property. But key to COVID-19 are the four things I've told you about. Number one, ability to inhibit R-BDS2. That is to say, an entry inhibitor for the virus. Number two, ability to inhibit fueling, which will not allow the attached, you know, virus to access the cell. Number three, if the virus eventually accesses the cell, ability to stop it from trying to process this protein and becoming new virus. And number four, if the free fuel, the last step is that it does not allow the virus to elicit immune response. I mean, immune, iPad, inflammatory response. And that simply means that if you are taking a virus, then for instance, you should not have very severe form of COVID-19 COVID-19 that would require ICU hospitalization. That's not going to happen. So that is the claim we have that we have primary data for. And that's exactly where we are going to be stopping at this time. But of course, if we do clinical trials and we have all the observations, we are going to pursue that using, you know, in instrumentality of biomedical science. And you have to understand, I feel like the University is very well-grounded in research and we also have facilities to explore any part that we wish to explore, depending on what kind of observations we get from clinical trials. Okay, so Nigerians can't wait for the outcome of this meeting that you've come to Lagos for, to know how soon it will be available to Nigerians and indeed the world. I have to tell you very specifically, Professor Salaakon and Naima and his team as probably some of the best Nigerians have seen. The meeting was about five hours today and it was very productive. They are eager, they want to test things out. They want to do what I'm going to do, what I'm going to do, but like they want to do their own to be sure that what these people are saying is correct. They have seen our data, they like it and they're enthusiastic about doing it because they want to do it for the world. Nothing can be wrong, that solutions to this problem came from Africa. Nothing, especially Nigeria. And of course, let me tell you, when we say problem solving from Nigeria perspective, all of us thought it abroad. So it is actually, we got the knowledge, we came here, we use it, then we take it back. All right, well, time will not permit us to continue with this, but thank you so much for your time. And you have to introduce yourself as we close this interview. Your name, please. Yes, my name is Professor Ola Paseo Motui. I have a PhD in Biochemistry, PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from Nagataki University and the Director Institute for Drug Research and Development at Avila University, Adrikiti. I should show visit very soon. Thank you. I will. And thank God I didn't have to murder your name, which is why I told you to introduce yourself. Well, thank you so much for your time. Hello, hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.