London, June 1, 2020 (AltAfrica)-Five new drugs are to be trialled in 30 hospitals across the country in the race to find a treatment for Covid-19, it has emerged. Just days after global trials of hydroxychloroquine, the drug promoted by Donald Trump as a cure, were halted, British scientists are looking to sign up hundreds of ...

London, May 24, 2020 (AltAfrica)-The status of  African wormwood or  umhlonyane, in traditional medicine is set to increase after the KwaZulu-Natal government in South Africa asked a laboratory to test if can actually be used to cure Covid-19.  The herb, whose potential to cure the virus was first touted by Madagascar, was among a number of indigenous ...

London, May 23, 2020 (AltAfrica)-African researchers are crowdfunding -raising public funds to carry out their own clinical trials on the artemisia plant to investigate its potential for treatment of Covid-19. A herbal tea based on artemisia extract has recently been touted by Madagascar’s government as a treatment for the coronavirus. However, no comprehensive clinical trials ...

London, May 13, 2020 (AltAfrica)-A meeting of 70 experts on African traditional medicine has agreed with the World Health Organisation, WHO that clinical trials for all African herbal medicines must be carried out and included in the potential drugs/vaccine for the treatment of covid-19 The virtual meeting with WHO Africa centred on the role of ...

London, May 6, 2020 (AltAfrica)-Kenyan scientists have announced their readiness to commence clinical trials for three drugs that can potentially treat persons infected with coronavirus, Kenyan Daily Nation newspaper reports. The scientists say they are seeking approvals for the trials to determine if Remdesivir, an antiretroviral drug together with anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, and Lopinavir/ritonavir, also used ...

London, April 30, 2020 (AltAfrica)-Remdesivir is widely considered to be a front-runner among the investigational therapies being tested as treatments for COVID-19. Now, a major trial has revealed that patients on the antiviral remdesivir recovered more than 30 percent faster than those on a placebo. A top US scientist hailed the drug’s “clear-cut” benefit. It ...

London, April 26, 2020 (AltAfrica)-A “suit of armour” against Covid-19 is the aim of a groundbreaking South African clinical trial that will vaccinate its first participant at Tygerberg Hospital early next week. If successful the experiment, using a cheap 100-year-old TB vaccine, will transform a small band of unknown Cape Town researchers into superheroes. Conducted ...

London, April 21, 2020 (AltAfrica)-Egypt has begun clinical trials for the treatment of coronavirus using blood plasma from patients who have recovered from the deadly virus The ministry has reportedly collected blood samples from two people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the hope that transfusions can help save the lives of people hospitalised with ...

London, April 14, 2020 (AltAfrica)-CHEAP gout pills could reduce Covid-19 deaths, say experts. Two major trials have been launched of the 10p-a-day tablets colchicine, amid hopes it may halt the “inflammatory storm” in the lungs which is a killer. READ ALSO: IMF APPROVES $1 BILLION LOAN FOR GHANA TO ADDRESS COVID-19 PANDEMIC Some 6,000 coronavirus victims ...

London, April 13, 2020 (AltAfrica)-Egypt says it’s ready to conduct clinical trials on samples of the Japanese anti-viral drug, Avigan as a treatment for COVID-19, Advisor to the Minister of Higher Education for International Relations and Agreements for Scientific Research Affairs, Dr. Mohamed Al-Shennawy, said on Sunday. On Friday, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific ...