The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control says it has received only one application from one company for the endorsement of a product to treat the symptoms of COVID-19 and not the virus itself.
NAFDAC said all other claims about a possible cure for COVID-19 in Nigeria only exist on social media and the pages of newspaper.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, said this in a statement on Wednesday. The agency was reacting to the several claims made by experts in the media that they had a cure for COVID-19.
The statement read in part,
“In a bid to discover a cure, therefore, the public has witnessed quite a number of claims from different quarters – complementary and alternative medicines practitioners, traditional healers, and the academia.
“It is pertinent to note, however, that these claims are domiciled in either the conventional news media or the social media.
“NAFDAC as of the time of this press release has only received an application from one company for a product the company is presenting (for approval) to the agency for the treatment of the symptoms of Covid-19, and not for the cure of Covid-19 as a disease.”
The agency said a claim of a cure must be subjected to clinical evaluation through well-controlled, randomised clinical trials following an approved clinical trial protocol.