The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has announced it has approved a herbal medicine - Cryptolepis sanguinolenta - locally known as Nibima for clinical trials for the treatment of COVID-19, after a "detailed assessment".

The outfit in a communiqué issued on Monday, February 1, 2021, and signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Delese A.A. Darko said the approval was granted in January 2021.

“In the search for a treatment for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the School of Public Health at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST), submitted a clinical trial application in September 2020 to assess the safety and efficacy of Cryptolepis sanguinolenta as a potential treatment for COVID-19. This follows results from laboratory studies conducted by the KNUST research team which points in the direction of possible clinical benefits," it read.

“The FDA after a detailed assessment of the application gave the requisite regulatory authority for the conduct of the trial as per the mandate outlined under Part 8 (Section 150-166) of the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851), which gives the Authority the legal mandate to regulate clinical trials of drugs, herbal medicinal products, cosmetics or medical devices. The trial will be at two sites," it further stated.

Case count

The country's case count continues to surge leading to the re-introduction of some measures as the government hopes to curb the spread and protect lives. While the death toll stands at 416 following the demise of 64 in two weeks, the average daily rates of infection now stand at 700, compared to 200 two weeks ago.

“Our hospitalization rates are increasing, with the number of critically and severely ill persons now at one hundred and seventy-two (172)”, said President Akufo-Addo in his 23rd address to the nation on COVID, lamenting: “Our hospitals have become full, and we have had to reactivate our isolation centers”.

Giving further details, the President noted that the total number of active cases has more than doubled, from a little over 1,900 two weeks ago, to 5,358 currently.

“When I delivered Update No. 22, thirteen (13) out of the sixteen (16) regions had recorded active cases; today, all sixteen (16) regions have active cases. Indeed, Greater Accra, Central, Western, Ashanti, Eastern, Upper East, Upper West, Volta, and Northern Regions are the hardest hit, accounting for ninety-four percent (94%) of the total number of active cases”.

Vaccine in June

The President in his 23rd address to the nation on measures the government was taking against the pandemic mentioned that he expects Ghana to have more than 17 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by mid-year.

“In Update No. 21, I indicated that Ghana is set to procure her first consignment of the COVID vaccines within the first half of this year. Since then, a lot of work has been done towards the realisation of this”.

“Our aim is to vaccinate the entire population, with an initial target of twenty million people”.

“Through bilateral and multilateral means, we are hopeful that, by the end of June, a total of seventeen million, six hundred thousand (17.6 million) vaccine doses would have been procured for the Ghanaian people”, Mr. Akufo-Addo noted.

“The earliest vaccine”, he announced, “will be in the country by March” adding that the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) “will use its established processes for granting emergency-use-authorisation for each vaccine in Ghana”, assuring the citizens that “only vaccines that have been evaluated and declared as safe-for-use in Ghana will be administered”.

Below is the FDA's full statement.