Health News of Tuesday, 7 April 2020
Source: ghanafact.com
Claim: Noguchi approves COA FS for treating coronavirus
Source: dailymailafrica.com
Verdict: False
Ghana’s leading biomedical research institute, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) has denied reports that it has approved COA FS, a Ghana-made nutritional supplement for treating the novel Coronavirus.
Digital news platform dailymailafrica.com published an article with the headline “Noguchi finally ‘approves’ Ghana-made drug to fight Coronavirus” on March 25 and referenced the director of NMIMR, Prof. Abraham Kwabena Annan as the source of the information.
GhanaFact was alerted to the online article via messaging platform WhatsApp and has since spoken to an official of the research institute and the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority for clarification on the potency of COA FS.
We have also been monitoring some pronouncements from the World Health Organization about when there could readily be a vaccine/treatment for the virus and what manufacturers of COA FS have been saying about the ongoing media reports.
Fact-check
“Noguchi has not approved COA FS…It was submitted to the Food and Drugs Authority as a food supplement. What my director said was that if COA FS is a booster of the immune system, then it could help in the way of resolving but not curing [coronavirus]. We didn’t say COA FS is a cure for coronavirus. NO!” Executive Secretary of NMIMR Theodore Ahuno stated in an interview with GhanaFact.
Official Release
— Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (@NMIMR_UG) April 6, 2020
COVID-19 Update 6th April, 2020
The University of Ghana, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, hereby inform the general public that it has not independently tested or verified that COA FS can treat COVID-19.
Thank you.