Nigeria’s efforts to develop indigenous treatments for sleeping sickness and river blindness are 70 per cent complete.
Prof. Martins Emeje, Director-General of the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA), disclosed this in an interview with reporters in Lagos on Saturday.
Emeje said the agency was collaborating with the Nigerian Institute for Trypanosomiasis (and Onchocerciasis) Research (NITR) to develop natural medicine formulations to treat the two neglected tropical diseases.
The collaboration, formalised through a memorandum of understanding in January, aims to use nanoscience and nanotechnology to develop effective dosage forms from natural medicinal products.
The DG said the project’s initial 12-month timeline could not be met because of funding and logistical challenges, as well as delays in securing other essential inputs.
He expressed optimism that the project would be completed, with stability studies expected to take place over the next six months before a product could be presented to Nigerians.
Emeje said NITR contributed expertise in the epidemiology, pathophysiology and clinical animal studies of trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and onchocerciasis (river blindness). NNMDA, he added, contributed its pharmaceutical and nanomedicine research capabilities.
According to him, the partnership was established to overcome institutional barriers and combine the agencies’ expertise to address diseases affecting vulnerable populations.
Emeje also said the agency had 47 natural medicine products at advanced stages of preclinical development. They target conditions including malaria, hypertension, hepatitis, diabetes, glaucoma, sickle cell disease, erectile dysfunction and peptic ulcer disease.
He said the products were ready for clinical trials, but a lack of funding remained a major obstacle to advancing them towards regulatory approval and commercial production.
Emeje estimated that clinical trials for a single product would cost about N1.6 billion, making it financially difficult for the agency to advance all 47 products independently.
He called for greater private-sector involvement, saying pharmaceutical companies could partner with the agency to fund clinical trials and commercialise products that successfully complete the process.
Emeje cited the partnership between Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to develop the COVID-19 vaccine as an example of successful research-industry collaboration.
He also disclosed that 22 applications for the agency’s products had been submitted to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Emeje clarified that the six natural medicine products unveiled by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr Kingsley Udeh, in July had undergone scientific evaluation. He said preclinical dossiers had been prepared, but the products had not entered full commercial production.
According to him, the agency had begun discussions with pharmaceutical companies and other industry stakeholders to support regulatory processes, clinical trials and eventual market availability.
Emeje stressed that scientific validation and regulatory approval were separate stages of drug development, and that research findings did not automatically mean products were approved for unrestricted public use.
Addressing concerns about the safety of traditional and herbal medicines, he said properly researched natural medicines should not be equated with unregulated herbal preparations sold by unqualified practitioners.
He identified inadequate documentation, quackery and the commercial exploitation of vulnerable people as challenges undermining public confidence in traditional medicine.
Emeje said the agency’s research products underwent scientific evaluation, with safety assessment central to the drug-development process.
He also said NNMDA was developing a national digital registry of traditional medicine practitioners, their products and treatment facilities to improve documentation, accountability and research into indigenous medical knowledge.
The initiative, launched three years ago, has covered two local government areas, with plans to extend it to all 774 local government areas in the country.
Emeje said traditional medicine encompassed a broad range of indigenous healing practices, while herbal medicine was only one component. Documenting these practices, he added, would help build an evidence base to assess their effectiveness and contributions to healthcare and economic development.
On monitoring adverse reactions to natural medicine products, Emeje identified NAFDAC’s pharmacovigilance and post-marketing surveillance systems as important channels for reporting suspected reactions to registered products.
He added that NNMDA also received complaints and feedback about its products through communication channels on its website.
The agency’s disclosure comes amid renewed global attention to traditional and complementary medicine. The World Health Organisation recently launched its Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034 to strengthen scientific evidence, safety, regulation and the integration of traditional medicine into healthcare systems.
The WHO initiative underscores the need to bridge the gap between the widespread use of traditional medicine and the scientific evidence available to support its safety and effectiveness.
