₦airaland Forum

We should be seeing production in limited quantities within a short period of time, with capacity increasing in a slow, but calculated fashion. I know that there is a lot of work being done behind the scenes and the production facility is being prepared for NAFDAC to sign off on it, but no one knows just how long that'll take to accomplish. There is positive movement and they want to make sure everything is done right.

blink182: Awareness is mainly by word of mouth, the drug can not be advertized in the mass media as clinical trials have not been done. It is illegal for now.

This is not 100% accurate, Cellod-S has full NAFDAC approval and is sold in numerous retail establishments. It's true that they have no clinical data to work off and that's a fairly significant problem. I've been trying to work with them for a year and a half to help distribute the product (I'm listed on their website as their US distributor), but without any clinical data or even a group of users to talk to, others are hesitant to take it or give it to their children. I've helped build their Facebook page from about 35 members to over 2,700 since last year and we have sold product in Nigeria and a few other countries. It works, but they need to get data to be taken seriously.

Niprisan (formerly known as Nicosan) is coming back on the market shortly. It will be produced by NIPRD and most likely marketed and distributed by them until they find a permanent solution.

I agree with all that has been written here about the Sickle Cell Foundation, he's been very clear in his belief the herbal treatments don't work. I know Ormed tried to work with him and I know Xechem did as well when they were marketing Nicosan, both without success.

LaMonte Forthun
TEaM Sickle Cell
(Test, Educate and Medicate)

Niprisan is the same drug as Nicosan. Niprisan is the original name, when the drug was licensed to Xechem they changed the name to Nicosan. Now that it's reverted back to NIPRD, they are using the original name to avoid any trade mark infringement since the name Nicosan is owed by a former Xechem executive. Hemoxin was the trade name that was going to be used in the US and in Europe...

To those that feel Niprisan is a scam, it is not. This is a real product that works. I've been involved in this from the US side of things for over four years now and have been part of much of the legal mess as well as the attempts to restructure the company. My efforts have basically failed for various reasons (it takes serious money to hire attorneys...), but have been in constant contact with a number of key people involved in this and am very confident that Niprisan will be back in production in limited quantities very soon, with increasing production as capabilities allow. NIPRD and those involved have been working on Niprisan for 20 years now and they have a very deep emotional attachment to this project. They've dealt with Sickle Cell patients and their families, they've seen grown men break down and cry in their offices when they found out they couldn't get Niprisan (again, it was called Nicosan at the time) for their children. They have had parents drive from all ends of Nigeria to NIPRD's offices in Abuja to get the medicine and have had to deal with the heartbreak of those parents when they are told that there is nothing they can do to help them.

NIPRD has been handcuffed in this entire process. They licensed the project to someone they trusted, who was thrown out of his own company and replaced by a man that has absolutely no concern for anyone but himself. Then you have the banks that took Xechem into Receivership, filing a lawsuit against NIPRD to keep them from going out to find another company to produce and market the drug. All the while (it will be three years next week that the banks shut down the facility, including all production), those who were taking Nicosan lost their critical medicine. We have no idea how many deaths can be attributed to this, but I'm sure there are some...

At this time, NIPRD is looking to restart fresh. They will produce Niprisan themselves and they will get the product into the hands of those that need it as best they can. It will not be free (unless purchased and given away), but it will most likely be less expensive as it was when marketed as Nicosan. NIPRD is an underfunded Government agency that was tasked to research and develop into commercial products traditional medicines from around Nigeria. The only way they can do that is to have the funding needed to hire researchers and to support their research needs. Three years ago NIPRD finished construction on a new five-story complex that will house their entire operation, but as of today they can't move into it because they don't have the funds to supply the complex with basics such as lab desks. Royalty revenues from commercial products that come out of NIPRD's labs were to help expand their R&D efforts in finding treatments for such diseases as HIV, Tuberculosis, Diabetes, etc., but the last Royalty payment NIPRD received from Nicosan was in 2007. They are motivated to get Niprisan not only to Nigerians, but to take Niprisan to the global Sickle Cell Community. Keep in mind, in 2004 Niprisan was awarded Orphan Drug Designation status by the US FDA and the EMEA (Europe) in 2005.

Niprisan needs to start off with a clean slate and confidence that it will bring pride and positive recognition to Nigeria.

LaMonte Forthun
TEaM Sickle Cell
(Test, Educate and Medicate)

It's been said a number times over the last year and I've been very skeptical every time I've heard it, but production of Niprisan should resume within the next two months. I believe it'll be within a month, but that's just me. There has been so many problems getting production restarted, but the bottom line is that NIPRD is ready to move forward, I believe they have an agreement with NEXIM in place and that all the legal battles are behind them (or so we should all hope...).

The product will be returned to its original name "Niprisan", since they believe that using Nicosan will be an issue, and production will initially be handled at the pilot plant facility at NIPRD under the direction of NIPRD staff.

That's entirely possible, unfortunately considering the way he handled my single question (to tell me exactly when he went to NIPRD with his "discover" we were never able to have an intelligent discussion about his claims versus Dr. Nelson's as I was accused of being an accomplice to the grand conspiracy. I'm sure he'll read this at some point and will be able to determine that for himself though. Based on our last communication, I don't think he's not convinced that the dates matter and is convinced that he's a victim of Governmental corruption on a variety of levels. My reason for posting is to get the other side of the story out since on the surface his claims seem like they could be valid, but when you look at the facts you can see that there is no way that he took his work to NIPRD and had Dr. Nelson patent it as he (Dr. Nelson) already had a patent for his work with his patent application having been dated nearly six years prior.

Are the two bodies of work similar? I actually don't know because I haven't seen details of what Mr. Nwankwo took to NIPRD, all I know is that NIPRD didn't take his idea to Dr. Nelson and get it patented, which is what he's claiming,

With all due respect sir, how can you take something to an organization in 2007 that was already patented in 2003 (filed for in 2001) and claim it as yours?

Educated on patent law or not, it's a six year difference and hardly similar to the intermittent wiper situation.

As I mentioned, I have all the relevant documents: Dr. Nelson's patent filed in 2001 and Nr. Nwankwo's press release stating that he went to NIPRD in February of 2007. NIPRD's MOU isn't relavant in proving who worked on the diabetes treatment first.

I've personally exchanged many emails with Mr. Nwankwo, asked him questions, showed him documented facts and he's not interested in hearing the truth.

The bottom line in this situation is that, as others have mentioned, Dr. Nelson filed a patent application with the United States Office of Patents and Trademarks in 2001 for a "Medicament for the Treatment of Diabetes". By Mr. Nwankwo's admission, he went to NIPRD in Feb. of 2007, almost six years after Dr. Nelson had filed for a patent, yet he claims that NIPRD stole his "discovery" and gave it to Dr. Nelson. The dates of the two activities speak for themselves,

I asked Mr. Nwankwo numerous times when the earliest he approached NIPRD with his "discovery" and he continued to avoid the question and ultimately began hiding behind religion telling me essentially that my actions would be answerable to a higher power.

As a point of reference, I was a non-paid volunteer at GDPAU (the organization that licensed the diabetes drug from Dr. Nelson) in 2009 and was present at the license signing ceremony, so I have more than a passing interest in this situation. I'm no longer with GDPAU, but I have been working to try to get NICOSAN back on the market for nearly two years now and spent 26 weeks in Nigeria over the last 18 months working on that project, often with NIPRD and the Ministry of Health. I personally know almost all the people that Mr. Nwankwo has accused of criminal activities and I won't sit back and let him throw out nonsense about these good people without any proof, which he has none. I've seen the documents he's forwarded on to the media and they are all self-written, yet Dr. Nelson can stand up with one very important document, is patent issued by the United States Government in 2003 for a Medicament for the Treatment of Diabetes.

As I've told Mr. Nwankwo, facts trump accusations. If you're going to accuse someone of something criminal, you need to have something to back up your claims. He has no basis for his claims. If anyone would like to see the documentation that Mr. Nwankwo has provided as well as what I've provided him, feel free to email me at lamontef 'at' yahoo.com.

LaMonte Forthun