Mr Olorunkemi Kadiku, the Registrar of the Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board on Monday called for effective collaboration among regulatory bodies to promote herbal medicine in the country.
Kadiku, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said such collaboration would enhance the regulation and development of herbal drugs in the country.
According to him, there is supposed to be good coordination in terms of collaboration with regulatory agencies in the various states, and the country at large.
“For instance, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC), is doing a great job but they are working in silos.
“The state board regulate the code of conduct and practices of traditional medicine in the state but our relationship with NAFDAC is not so visible.
“NAFDAC has a lot of initiative and programmes they have developed and we don’t even know about, and this does not allow for effective coordination, both in terms of regulation and development of programme initiative,” he said.
The registrar also said that herbal drugs were effective, noting that the lack of funds for clinical trials was one of the major challenges.
“When we talk about efficacy, as a scientist who studied biochemistry and synthesis chemist at the advance stage, I can tell you that herbal drugs are very efficacious and effective.
“How do we expect a local man or woman who has a herbal product to get funding for clinical trials for his or her product.
“To fund the clinical trial for a type of medicine in the Lagos State Traditional Medicine Board is a near impossible task because of the money involved.
“The only way forward is for us to partner with the government and international organisations that can provide fund for research and development so we can begin to investigate some of these drugs.
“Without funds, it won’t be possible to carry out clinical trials on some of these drugs to know the quantity of active ingredients in them,” he said. (NAN)
