Health Minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu has spoken on the controversy surrounding the experimental Ebola drug being proposed for adoption by the Federal Government, saying the it has not been administered to sufferers of the virus because the drug failed to meet the requirements for approval.
“You will recall that, last Thursday, I announced that we were ready to deploy an experimental drug, Nano Silver; it was not cleared by the National Health Research Ethics Committee.
“Although the drug has since been made available to the EOC in Lagos, it has not been administered on any patient because we were awaiting clearance by the National Health Research Ethics Committee.
“I regret to inform you that the drug did not meet the requirements of the National Health Research Ethics Code. Accordingly, approval for its use was withheld by the National Health Research Ethics Committee,” the minister said.
The minister, however, informed that the other candidate drugs were under evaluation by the Treatment Research Group for EVD.
“As soon as any of the experimental drugs is cleared by the National Health Research Ethics Committee and made available, we shall incident it in the treatment regeneration subject to the informed consent of the patient,” he stated.
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