TB was the 13th most common cause of death and the second most common infectious killer in 2020, after COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization, where 1.5 million people perished from the disease. Eight nations, led by India, are responsible for two thirds of the total. China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and South Africa are the next eight countries in the list.
Hence, multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) is still a public health emergency and a security risk to health. A new drug that is effective against all bacterial strains is urgently needed as a result of this.
A scientist from Nigeria named Dr. Mrs. Misitura Lawal-Arowona made headlines a few years ago for discovering novel anti-tuberculosis medications to combat the illness. She achieved her breakthrough while on a fellowship at the Faculty of Science of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in India. At the time, she was pursuing her PhD with the University of Ilorin.
Dr. Misitura ran a number of tests to determine the viability of her theory in the development of a TB drug to counter the bacteria’s increasing resistance to medications. She drew inspiration from cisplatin, a cancer treatment medication that is known to be more effective when given along with the metal platinum.
According to reports, she investigated various metals, including ion, cobalt, copper, and zinc, to create the metallodrugs. These newly created medications, the first of their kind metal-based medicines for the treatment of TB, comprise Ciprofloxacin HCl, Ofloxacin, Pyrazinamide, and Moxifloxacin HCl.
Dr. Misitura’s mentor, Professor Rajendrasinh Jadeja, made a comment on the great quality of the medication and how numerous tests have supported this. The metallodrugs were found to be more efficient when compared to the original anti-TB medications. They performed in-vitro experiments against bacteria and discovered that ciprofloxacin’s copper complex is the most efficient metallodrug of all of them.
In the same year that she produced this discovery, Dr. Misitura won an international conclave competition in Chennai, India. She participated in the competition with 21 other scientists, which had the theme “Achievement of Capacity Development in Developing Nations” as its focus.
The medicine will be used to combat the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic in Africa and around the world, according to Dr. Misitura.
Dr. Misitura at the moment is a lecturer at Kebbi State University, Nigeria.
