A variety of products and services related to traditional medicines, proudly developed by the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Department of Pharmacology are on exhibition at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Traditional Medicine Global Summit in India. The exhibition ends today, having started yesterday – Thursday (17/08).
Held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, the exhibition aims at promoting the important role of Africa’s rich biodiversity of medicinal plants and herbs in improving general well-being.
The university is represented by a team of experts in traditional medicine products. They are Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa, director of the Department of Pharmacology, Vusi Paul Ncume, a Master’s student in pharmacology, and Tebogo Machethe, director for Innovation and Contracts in the Directorate of Research Development (DRD).
They showcased their traditional medicines research and development at the exhibition, a first for the WHO, an agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.
Machethe participated in a session focusing on innovation, entrepreneurship, and equitable sharing of benefits derived from the utilisation of indigenous knowledge.
Matsabisa will deliver a presentation on traditional medicines and intellectual property in a session titled “Regulations, intellectual property and implementation: Ensuring patient safety and economic efficiency in developing and adopting innovations in TM to healthcare”.
“We will also be exhibiting our laboratories and work undertaken in these laboratories, as well as our new entrants to the market,” said Matsabisa.
“More importantly, this is to showcase the science behind the products. The products we are exhibiting includes our medicines – Phela for immune reconstitution, and now repurposed for Covid-19 and long Covid conditions. We will also show the science and the research and development undergone to get Phela where it is,” he said.
