Production of sickle cell drugs'll commence December 'NEXIM DG

THE Managing Director, Nigeria Exportand Import Bank, Mr Roberts Orya, has promised that the production of 'NIPRISAN,' a sickle cell drug, will commence in the next 60 days.Orya disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Washington DC, United States (US).'I believe that as soon as I get back to the country, we will sign the MoU (memorandum of understanding) and then we commence the process.'Give and take, we should be looking at 45 to 60 days, we should commence the production of NIPRISAN by December,' he said.Orya said the Minister of State for Health, Alhaji Mohammed Pate, has taken the production of the drug as his priority, adding that the delay in the commencement of its production was caused by some challenges among the stakeholders.NAN reported that NEXIM had syndicated more than N700 million in loan with Diamond Bank and Bank PHB for the production of the drugs in the country.'We have the highest exposure and that is why we are driving the process,' Orya told NAN in the interview.It will be recalled that the Federal Government, two years ago, stopped the production of NIPRISAN, formerly known as 'Nicosan,' due to issues bordering on finance.Nicosan, which was discovered by the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), was produced then by Xechem Nigeria Ltd.The drug, produced with extracts from four botanical plants in Nigeria, does not cure sickle cell anaemia, but only manages to reduce the frequency of the ailment.
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