ABU lecturer develops anti-diabetes drugs

A lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Dr. Auwal Ibrahim, has developed anti-diabetes drugs from local herbs. It was gathered that the research was part of his Ph.D thesis conducted at the

University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Speaking with Newsmen yesterday, Dr. Ibrahim of the Biochemistry Department said: “Basic research on type 2 diabetes is usually hard to execute in African countries, because of some procedural issues and lack of appropriate animal models. Interestingly however, my research was focused on the development of more effective and less toxic remedies against the type 2 diabetes. More specifically, the work focused on the validation and development of anti-diabetes plant-based remedies as well as the identification of novel chemical leads from African plants”.

He added: “I used a number of molecular techniques to demonstrate the potentials of some African plants in the management of type 2 diabetes. Overall, the findings of the work are important for relevant government agencies, pharmaceutical industries, scientific community and poor diabetic patients, because it might open an avenue for the development of viable and cost effective herbal products or novel drugs to manage type 2 diabetes”.

The lead supervisor of the research, Dr. Shahidul Islam, said Ibrahim’s work was remarkable not only for its innovation, “but also because two of his three Ph.D thesis examiners suggested that the work be accepted without any corrections”.