The Vice Chancellor (VC), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Abia State, Prof Francis Otunta has said a professor in the institution has discovered a new drug for the treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS.

Otunta told newsmen at the university campus on Wednesday that the discovery was made by Prof. Maduike Ezeibe, a researcher in the university.

The Vice Chancellor said none of his colleagues in the medical field who were presented with the drug had contradicted his finding.

“Prof. Ezeibe is a researcher in Veterinary Medicine and one may wonder how he discovered a drug to cure a human ailment,” he said.

Ezeibe said the drug was produced with Aluminum Silicate and Magnesium Silicate (Synthetic Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate).

He said that the two minerals “are already in use as medicines for the treatment of various animal and human diseases”.

He said that 10 persons living with the disease, “who volunteered’’, were made to apply through their doctor to the VC. “They were treated daily with the Medicinal Synthetic Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate (50 mg/kg),” he said.

“With the antiviral effects of the medicine, its ability to reach all cells (as nanoparticles) and the lymphocytes, there is no more hiding place (sanctuary) for HIV,” he said.

He said the results of the laboratory tests had been published in many international scientific journals, including the British Journal of Medicine and Medical Research, among several others.

He called on the Federal Government to help him to secure international patency for the drug.

He said, “If commercialised, the Medicinal Synthetic Aluminum-Magnesium Silicate would become an alternative for petroleum to the Nigerian economy.”

Azeez