Prof Iwu Gives Public Presentation on Bitter Kola Cure, Signs Research Deal With US Agency

 Prof. Maurice Iwu made a public presentation of his pioneer research on bitter kola (Garcinia kola) ‘cure’ for EVD and announced plans to continue with the research when The National Expert Committee on Ebola began evaluation of local and international experimental drugs for treatment of Ebola, The Guardian reports.

Iwu said his parent company, Bioresources Institute of Nigeria (BION), on September 5, 2014, signed a cooperative research agreement with the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD) for the evaluation of compounds submitted by BION for activity against Ebola.

He said the agreement covered pre-clinical and non-clinical tests.

Iwu said the proposed project to continue the research into bitter kola ‘cure’ for EVD would consist of three related components: Standardised whole seed of Garcinia kola (currently available as Garcinia – IHP with National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Registration No. A7- 1328L; Kolaviron – GMP production of kolaviron for quality evaluation and bioactivity assays using procedure previously described; and Preparative Isolation of Garcinia biflavonoids: scaled-up isolation of GB-1 & GB-2 sufficient for undermentioned biological investigations by InterCEDD Laboratories Nsukka.

The professor of pharmacy said the scope of work to be undertaken would include pre-clinical bioavailability studies and the determination of the most appropriate mode and route of administration, efficacy studies in non-human primates, human safety determination in a phase-one clinical trial, and limited clinical outcome evaluation if approved by relevant clinical committees and agencies.

In his presentation titled: “Garcinia kola (Bitter kola) Seeds, Kolaviron and GB-1 as Possible Post-Exposure Agents in the Management of Ebola Virus Disease,” Iwu proposed that bitter kola could ameliorate the virus-induced suppression of cellular immunity during Ebola virus infection because of its inhibitory effects which involve modulation of multiple signalling of several pro-inflammation pathways/ targets.

According to him, the Kolaviron isolated from bitter kola has been shown to interfere with and reduce the activation of several inflammatory transcription factors and Garcinia biflavonoids also possess strong antioxidant activity which may be useful in protecting the infected cells from the reactive oxygen (ROS)-mediated neuronal cell death associated with Ebola virus infection.

Bitter kola is now becoming very expensive to buy already, it was worse when the Ebola scare was high, even hand sanitizers became very expensive to buy, I can not believe that I will eventually buy the medium hand sanitizer for as low as five hundred naira!!..two months ago, I bought the same sanitizer for #1500..(lol) Nigeria we hail thee..

Well done my brother Prof.Maurice bitter kola Iwu