Nigerian University finds cure for HIV/AIDS

If claims Professor Francis Otunta are anything to go by, 
then,Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, might have discovered a drug for the treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS.

The Vice Chancellor of the institution located at Umudike 
in Abia state, has announced the discovery of a drug which
 he claims is potent in the cure of the epidemic.

Otunta told newsmen at the university campus on Wednesday, February 1, that the finding followed years of scientific research by the institution.

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.

“Prof. Ezeibe is a researcher in Veterinary Medicine and 
one may wonder how he discovered a drug to cure a human ailment,” he said.

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.

Ezeibe, who is a professor of Veterinary Medicine and 
Clinical Virology, said that the drug was produced with Aluminum Silicate and Magnesium Silicate (Synthetic Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate).

He said that the two minerals “are already in use as 
medicines for the treatment of various animal and human diseases”.

He said that 10 persons living with the disease, “who  volunteered’’, were made to apply through their doctor to
 the VC.

“They were treated daily with the Medicinal Synthetic Aluminum- Magnesium Silicate (50 mg/kg),” he said.

Ezeibe said that the volunteers were subjected to monthly tests for viral loads and CD4-lymphocyte counts.

“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,” he said.

He said that 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.

According to him, “local and international medical companies will find the product as a veritable raw material”.

Ezeibe said that he presented the research findings to the World Virology Conference in Atlanta in 2015, and Antonio (Texas) in 2016.

Besides, he said that 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 said that 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.

He said: “If commercialised, the Medicinal Synthetic Aluminum- Magnesium Silicate would become an 
alternative for petroleum to the Nigerian economy.”