Book Of Abstracts

Science With Africa Conference

March 3-7, 2008

page 30

Evaluation of Niprisan (Herbal Medicine) for the Management of Sickle Cell
Anaemia

Charles Wambebe and Hadiza Khamofu, International Biomedical Research in Africa, Abuja,
Nigeria, wambebe@yahoo.com, Joseph Okogun, Nathan Nasipuri and Karynius Gamaniel,
National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Abuja, Nigeria.

About 70% of all sickle cell anemia (SCA) subjects reside in Africa, estimated at over 12 million. The prevalence of SCA is estimated at over 2% while infant mortality is about 8% and survival rate of SCA babies in rural areas by five years of age is about 20%. These statistics indicate that SCA is probably the most neglected (and sometimes forgotten by health authorities) serious public health disorder with serious mortality and morbidity rates in Africa. The objective was to undertake pre-clinical and clinical assessments of a herbal extract vis-à-vis management of sickle cell anemia using Good Laboratory Practice and Good Clinical Practice principles respectively. In Africa, there is no standard treatment for sickle cell anemia, only palliative management is generally available. In view of this situation, most SCA subjects use herbal medicines. NIPRISAN is a standardized extract from four medicinal/food plants: Piper guineenses seeds, Pterocarpus osun stem, Eugenia caryophyllum fruit and Sorghum bicolor leaves. Short term toxicity study indicated that NIPRISAN was safe in laboratory animals. Bio-activity guided fractionation show that vanillin and aromatic aldehydes may be the bioactive moieties. NIPRISAN reversed sickled red blood cells and protected them from being sickled when exposed to low oxygen tension. NIPRISAN dose- dependently delayed polymer formation of haemoglobin S. NIPRISAN induced 85% increased solubility of deoxy haemoglobin S. The in vivo efficacy study was undertaken at Children Hospital of Philadelphia, USA. Histological examination of lungs of control Tg transgenic mice carrying human sickle haemoglobin showed entrapment of massive numbers
of sickled cells in alveolar capillaries. NIPRISAN significantly cleared the lungs of sickled cells. Furthermore, NIPRISAN induced profound effect on the survival time of Tg mice under hypoxic conditions (p

There is a relatively new treatment for sickle cell being produced in Nigeria by an American company called NICOSAN®, its proprietary name is NIPRISAN® . It was developed on the premise of traditional Nigerian plant based medicinal practices for the treatment of sickle cell disease.

It has been tested through phase IIb clinical trials and found to be highly efficacious. Phase III trials have yet to be completed however it was approved for sale in Nigeria based on phase IIb trials and toxicity studies which showed it to be safe and non-toxic.

Double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised cross-over clinical trial of NIPRISAN® in patients with Sickle Cell Disorder Link

Efficacy of Niprisan in the prophylactic…