| Prof. Izevbigie |
…By discovering Edotide, used in U.S., and now in Nigeria, to treat cancer and diabetes
Benson Idahosa University (BIU), Benin, Edo State, has become the
first university in Africa to be accepted as a member of the prestigious
National Academy of Inventors (NAI) which comprises of over 60 other
universities worldwide.
The feat was achieved on account of a drug, Edotide, invented by the
former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the university (now Acting VC), Prof.
Ernest Izevbigie, for the prevention and management of cancer, prostate
enlargement and diabetes. Besides, Prof. Izevbigie has also been
recognized by the NAI as one of the top inventors among 101 other
Fellows globally. In this interview, he speaks on the drug, Edotide, and
what makes it different.
MY BACKGROUND
I have a PhD in the area of my research – Cell Biology and
Biochemistry. I received my doctorate degree in 1996, at Michigan State
University, United States. After completing that, I went to the National
Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland also in U.S., to do a
post- doctorate in Cancer Biology.
I concluded that in 1999, three years after my doctorate before launching my research career at Jackson State University.
I started in 1999 and I rose to the rank of a full professor in
2008/2009. So, I remained a full professor of Biology and Bio-chemistry
of Jackson State University.
While I was there, I had the responsibility of mentoring students
both in Biology and Chemistry, Masters and PhD students. My publications
are in the area of Cell Biology, Bio-chemistry and Pharmacognosy.
That is my education and that is my research training and the degree
is one thing; your research area is another. There are two components
that really define your area of specialization: getting a degree and
being able to utilize the skill to solve problem in that area.
Those are the two things that will redefine you.
WHY EDOTIDE IS DIFFERENT
Recently, we have seen people who claimed to have invented drugs that could cure HIV/AIDS and their claims were repudiated.
What makes your drug, Edotide, different from others in the
management of cancer, prostate enlargement and diabetes? Very good
question! In our case, we didn’t have internal problems. We followed the
due process that we have.
The former vice-chancellor and the entire management were on board.
What we said had been published, unlike what I read in Tell magazine.
The case they had in UNIBEN (University of Benin) was in infancy stage
from my understanding. This is not in infancy stage.
Our findings have been published in prestigious medical journals –
Experimental Biology in Medicine, one of the oldest you can find in the
business established in 1903, Peer Review Journal, Cell and our findings
have been corroborated by other scientists.
It’s established in the literature. To check that, you do a Google
search on Vernonia Amgydalina and cancer, you will see the information
that you could have. Again, do a Google search on my name and cancer; my
contribution in the field of Cancer Biology using, or establishing the
anti-neoplastic activity or anti-cancer property, is well documented.
So, this is not a matter of a claim, it’s a scientific evidence that
we have. I challenge anybody to read the literature and see what is
already out there. So, it’s different, it’s not a claim. In addition,
there are publications in order to be able to repeat our work; that is
what makes science interesting.
It led to publications and a lot of things. We have secured funding
to do that work and other studies. Securing funding in the U.S. and most
parts of the world is a very complex process.
There is a review process, your peers, people who are knowledgeable
in the art, those who would review your proposal, what you are going to
do, is it doable to give you money? and all. So, there has to be some
weight and credibility in terms of securing this funding. Our findings
were deemed novel. That is the reason we were issued patent for novelty.
We didn’t stop there because patent issuance is one thing. You didn’t
just have the patent on the wall. The next step was translation. These
findings that we made in the laboratory, how can we translate them to
societal values? Societal value means taking the benefit, and taking it
in a vehicle out of the laboratory to the patent bedside.
To do that, we came up with a composition, a formulation of the
botanical extract, using some active ingredient components to come up
with the standardized formulation. Then with those formulations, we now
encapsulated into 600mg, 700mg, depending on the use.
Then we made that commercially available in the United States. A few
years later, because Nigerians were buying from the U.S. (and they can
be very, very expensive), they said the only thing we could do to have
that in Nigeria is to make application to NAFDAC (National Agency for
Food and Drug Administration and Control). We secured another patent in
Nigeria.
We registered the product with Federal Trade and Commerce. I am still
talking about why Edotide is clearly different from others.
After under-going all the processes stipulated by NAFDAC, we were
approved before we were able to bring it into Nigeria and since then
we’ve had medical directors who have worked with us with their patients
with records on files, the amazing results that have been recorded. At
the due time, some of them will come and vouch for Edotide.
COMPELLING TESTIMONIES
So, we have testimonies, compelling testimonies. With that, I have
outlined many reasons we think it’s different and more recently, our
work was recognized by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), mandated
by the Congress of the United States and acknowledged to drive
innovation in technology from the university to commercialize new idea,
new products coming out of the universities and take them into the
market.
In recognition of that, in 2012, they recognized people who have been issued United States patent.
All over the world, there are some people who live in China, they
have patent in the United States and so on and so forth. So, they
recognize people who’ve been able to take their patent, translate it
into societal value and a selection committee was put in place to make
that selection.
Let me quote from that committee. They said: “a top scientist and
innovator who had demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in
creating or facilitating outstanding invention that have made a
tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development and welfare
of society.”
This was one of the criteria used to select people. So, a committee
of outstanding men and women judged my humble self, by the special grace
of God, to be among this group of persons.
At the end, 101 Fellows were selected. In that 101, let me say a lot
of Nigerians may recall that few years ago, during President Olusegun
Obasanjo’s tenure that a gentleman called Dr. Robert Gallow visited
Nigeria, Abuja.
I think they have this partnership to establish Institute of Human
Virology somewhere in Abuja. Robert Gallow is the co-discoverer of HIV
and that HIV causes AIDS and furthermore, he developed the blood test
used today in the diagnosis of HIV/AIDS. So, in other words, without
this gentleman, the HIV test would not be possible.
That is significant and also among this group, are eight Nobel
Laureates, people who have won Noble prizes in their respective fields.
Also, among these 101 persons, is Sir Roy Kean. Roy Kean is the British
surgeon who performed the first world liver transplant and kidney
Transplantation.
He is the pioneer in Organ Transplantation and also Roger Comberg,
who won Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 with his work, “The Expression
of DNA into RNA” and the processes involved. He is from Stanford
University in California.
We have people also recognized from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University among others.
So, from the patent, from the recognition, from the collaboration
with other scientists, from the fact that Edotide is commercially
available in the U.S. and Nigeria by way of NAFDAC approval, from
testimonies of physicians and patients, you will agree with me that
Edotide is different from other claims. Let me also add that this is not
a cure.
It is approved as Nutri-c-cal and dietary supplement by NAFDAC
because it’s from a vegetable that we eat in Nigeria and the way it’s
made now. In the future it can be made into a pharmaceutical whereby we
fix a component, maybe change the structure, modify it or whatever.
But what we are concerned with now is helping people in the
management of neoplastic diseases such as cancer of the breast and
cancer of the prostate in the prevention and management of the type of
cancer and also diabetes. Let me just add that from my angle, I don’t
think if there is anything in the market now that is a cure for
anything.
When you take diabetes for example, it is a metabolic disease. If you
eat and your body has a compromised ability to metabolize sugar
properly, one is going to have elevated blood sugar.
So, you need medicine to constantly bring it to normal level. If you
discontinue taking this medicine, what happens, the sugar goes back
again, the same thing with hypertension under those conditions, I don’t
know if you can really call it cure. It seems to me that it should be
management. Besides the recognition by National Academy of Scientists on
February 28, the 113th United States Congress also recognized all the
101 persons.
Besides, Benson Idahosa University now has been accepted as a member
of the NAI, and that makes BIU the first international affiliate in
Africa ever to be a member of that prestigious organization.
It’s not just only the grant in right to be able to say, ‘I belong in
the league of the big universities’ because in NAI, you have more than
60 universities now that are members.
That means we have the opportunity to now interact, form partnership
with them, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), share resources, exchange
programme, our children get to go and use their state-of-the-art
laboratories and vice versa, they come here.
HOW WE CAME ABOUT THE NAME EDOTIDE
Why is the drug named Edotide? Is it because you are from Edo State?
Yes, and also I am a Nigerian. Edotide was coined because the first
paper we published, having observed that there were components, bitter
leaves extract that could inhibit the proliferating activities of human
extrogen receptor positive breast casinoma cells, we observed that some
of the active components were prolypeptide.
So, at that time I thought it was a good thing.
We got this first batch of bitter leaves from Benin City, Edo State. I
did it myself. I was the lead investigator in the study, Edo. Then the
first few active compounds, they were prolypeptide.
I took the last four letters of prolypeptide, “tide” to make the
compound word Edotide. So, basically, what it means is Edo prolypeptide
or Edo protein. Those in science would understand and I am happy to say
it was coined like that because the word Edotide did not exist but now
it is in the literature, is in the medical vocabulary. There is another
twist to that name.
As you are aware, “tide” besides being the surface of prolypeptide,
the four letter word to denote protein, tide itself also means body of
water like river, they go through succession of tide, rise and fall.
That is another way tide can be used and tide can also be used to say
momentum of opinion. For example, if something is going on, you can say
this is the tide of opinion.
I think in the law profession they have that preponderance of
evidence. That is why the symbol in the High Court. You have this scale
that is like a balance. So you say well, whichever side it weighs to,
that is where the judgment goes. To summarize that, tide, another thing
to it now is that when you say Edotide, this product is also the
consensus of Edo people.
That’s another way to look at it. We also think that the Edo people
will join us and spread the word. I know the palace, His Majesty has
been very supportive. I had the honour in 2006/2007 to be in his
majestic presence and the question that he asked me, he the Oba of
Benin, was why Edotide?
He said most scientists that he has heard of, or known, they name
something after themselves. My humble opinion at that time was common
interest in my judgment always override individual interest.
I just feel that I am an Edo person, if you name it Edo, all
Edo-speaking people can take glory in the name. Not only Edo, all
Nigerians can take glory because Edo State is part of Nigeria, indeed,
all Africa, because Nigeria is part of Africa.
At the beginning, there was never an ounce of selfishness. It’s
always about the people and how I can make my modest contribution to
society.
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