MOTLALEPULA MATSABISA | Traditional medicines need elevation into space in pharmacies, healthcare

As we celebrated African Traditional Medicine Day on August 31 to promote the important role of the continent’s rich biodiversity in improving well-being, one needs to acknowledge the role that Covid-19 played in shining a spotlight on African traditional medicines.

Responding to the pandemic, rapid vaccine research and development and the repurposing of drugs in the fight against Covid-19 happened on great scales. Traditional medicines also benefited from renewed interest as a possible solution for this deadly disease.

Even though traditional medicines, similarly to other traditional medicines such as those from China and India, have been used by African people long before the advent of “modern” medicine, and still continue to be used for the treatment of a range of diseases, most people still do not believe in its value as medicines for serious and chronic illnesses.

This might be because of the lack of scientific research behind these remedies, and the dominance of the Western knowledge system and its wide acceptance by younger generations who value more Western values and lifestyles while being oblivious to traditional medicines.

But in Africa, where about 80% of the population is said to rely on traditional medicine for their basic healthcare needs (according to the World Health Organisation), traditional remedies should be given a more prominent role. They should be more visible on shelves in big pharmacies, prescribed by healthcare practitioners beyond just traditional health practitioners, and should be more mainstreamed than what is currently the case.

Over the past few years, the University of the Free State (UFS), through its department of pharmacology, has made great strides in researching the possibilities and potential of traditional medicines. My team and I, together with other role-players in the institution, are in the process of establishing one of the most advanced modern pharmacology GLP-accredited research and development laboratories in the country, and possibly in the region, after receiving a grant of R58m from the government.

The department has  been awarded an annual technology and innovation agency platform grant of R17m for the next five years. This research and teaching programme, known as African Medicines Innovations and Technologies Development, will help to recruit and employ the best skills throughout the research, development, and herbal-medicine manufacturing value chains. We received a DSI high-end infrastructure grant to build a laboratory, which will be a centre of excellence for the government, the WHO, and the African Union’s Commission for Social Development.

The grant will also be used to build a herbal medicines production facility, as well as to pilot a health facility for traditional medicines. I am pleased that a multinational private pharmaceutical company has come forward and will be collaborating with us to realise these plans – joint manufacturing and business development, and joint engagement in the integrated health facility.

As part of the Covid-19 response, traditional medicine therapies have emerged as possible cures or remedies for the deadly disease. The pandemic has certainly helped to improve the profile of traditional medicines. In Cameroon two complementary therapy products for Covid-19 have been approved by the government, while Madagascar’s herbal remedy, Covid-Organics Plus Curative, has been in phase II clinical trials.

Encouraging preliminary results have been reported around this clinical trial. Similar trials on traditional medicine products for Covid-19 – conducted according to WHO protocols – are also underway in other African countries, including Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Uganda and SA, according to the WHO.

With regard to SA, my team and I and FARMOVS received approval from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) to conduct the first multicentre controlled phase II clinical trial of a plant-based product, PHELA, on mild- to moderate-symptom Covid-19 patients.

The main purpose of the clinical trial is to confirm that the product can treat Covid-19 and be registered by Sahpra. We confirmed in vitro and in vivo that the medication works as an immune modulator to modulate the cytokine storm due to Covid-19, and also restores and normalises the patient’s immune system.

This pivotal study is based on the modification of the WHO master protocol for clinical trials. The study is ongoing at three sites, and we are considering the addition of two more sites, to make a total of five clinical-trial sites.

The celebration of African Traditional Medicines Day reminds all of us of the value and contribution of traditional medicines. The annual celebration, therefore, aims to gain more support for the continent to fast-track the research and development, as well as the local manufacturing, of well-researched products, and for them to be made available through our national health systems. This also encourages the training of younger generations in this field of science and research.

• Prof Matsabisa is director of pharmacology in the faculty of health sciences at University of the Free State