The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has issued a disclaimer on a herbal drug – Pax CVD Plus – that is being marketed for the treatment of COVID-19.
The disclaimer signed by the Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Christiana Adeyeye, stated: “The attention of the Agency has been drawn to an advertorial from Pax Herbal Clinic and Research Laboratories titled: “An Official Statement By Pax Herbals on the Treatment of COVID-19”. The advertorial claims that Pax Herbal has developed a new drug called PAX CVD PLUS for the treatment of COVID-19 and is working with NAFDAC to speed up approval for use of the drugs.
“The same advertorial claimed that the Director-General of NAFDAC has appointed experts to work with PAXHERBAL on what the company has described as a special project.
“The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) wish to inform the public that PAX CVD PLUS has not been registered nor listed for treatment of COVD-19, neither have we registered nor listed any other remedy for COVID-19.
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“To set the records straight, at no time did the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, or anyone in the Agency appoint any expert or staff to work with PAX HERBAL on any project.
“The company wrote a letter to NAFDAC informing the Agency about their development of an antiviral plant based drug with the potential to treat COVID-19 and an invitation to join their research team. The Agency politely declined since as a regulator of clinical trials, participation would be a conflict of interest. However, we encouraged them to carry out clinical trials which should be under strict supervision of the Agency to establish the efficacy of their product. However, the clinical trial has not taken place.
“It is, therefore, unfortunate that PAX HERBALS have made claims that are not backed up by facts. This response is intended to correct the erroneous impression created by the advertorial.”