Malaria: U.S. firm launches non-blood test kit in Nigeria

Stakeholders in the Nigerian medical industry have been urged to be proactive against the Malaria scourge ‎as a known killer disease for children and pregnant women.  Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fyodor Biotechnology Corporation both USA and Nigeria, Dr Eddy Agbo made the call in Lagos while addressing newsmen on the introduction of Urine […]

Stakeholders in the Nigerian medical industry have been urged to be proactive against the Malaria scourge ‎as a known killer disease for children and pregnant women.

 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fyodor Biotechnology Corporation both USA and Nigeria, Dr Eddy Agbo made the call in Lagos while addressing newsmen on the introduction of Urine Malaria Test (UMT) to Nigeria.

 

He said the fight against Malaria required concerted effort from all shareholders both private players and government agencies in the health sector.

This, he said, informed Fyodor Biotechnologies, a Baltimore, Maryland USA-based company and Fyodor Biotechnologies Nigeria Ltd to collaborate with Geneith Pharmaceuticals Ltd in bringing the first ever non-blood malaria test kit to Nigeria.

 

The product which will be officially unveiled in Abuja, Nigeria, on November 11, at the National Hospital and Lagos on November 18, 2015 reveals in 25 minutes if a fever is due to malaria or not.

 

The technology is a simple to perform test kit requiring only a few drops of urine with no reagent or equipment.

 

Agbo‎ stated that the product has the endorsements of the Federal Ministry of Health and the National Agency for Foods Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

 

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Geneith Pharmaceutical Limited Mr. Emmanuel Umenwa said the UTM was not a prescription product but that the idea was to make available in pharmaceuticals stores, hospitals, health centres.

 

He described it as a tool to empower the doctors and nurses on what they treat.