African Centre of Excellence for Drug Research , Herbal Medicine Development and Regulatory Science. We offer interdisciplinary M.Sc. & Ph.D. and Ph.D.
programmes in Herbal Drug Standardization, Drug Development, Toxicology, Regulatory Science & Pharmacovigilance. ACEDHARSis a World Bank-approved African Center of Excellence established to train skilled manpower on
quality assurance, standardization of dosages, reproducibility of herbal preparations and safety monitoring
of drugs in the West and Central African region. The need for the interventi
on was due to the increasingly
growing demand for stringent quality norms for global positioning of herbal products. Some of the
identified challenges regarding herbal medicine have been found to be centred around standardization,
safety, adulteration, and irrational use. This is largely due to a dearth of skilled manpower in their production
and regulation. The Center programmes are focused not only on herbal medicines but also on orthodox drug assessments
and regulations based on expertise of members in Biochemistry, Botany, Chemistry, Pharmaceutical
Chemistry, Pharmacognosy, Pharmacology, Physiology, and Sociology. The Center offers interdisciplinary
M.Sc. programmes in Herbal Drug Standardization, Drug Development, Toxicology, Regulatory
Science and Pharmacovigilance. The ACEDHARS develops skilled manpower in the utilization of
spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques in drug development, pharmacokinetics and drug quality
assurance systems. Furthermore, the Center develops capacity in toxicity testing and safety monitoring of
medicines and herbal products. Graduates of the Center are to fill the skill gap in toxicology, quality
control and pharmacovigilance units of regulatory agencies, drug research institutes, pharmaceutical
industries, herbal product industries, healthcare facilities, and traditional medicine centres in the region. The Center runs short courses in Formulation and Standardization of Herbal Medicine, Impurity Profiling,
Quality Control and Regulation of Herbal Products, Toxicological Evaluation, and Regulatory Sciences
concurrently for both low- and high-skilled personnel in production and regulatory service positions in the
region. Short courses are run virtually and physically. The research objective of ACEDHARS is to provide intervention in the production of standard herbal
products for the treatment of some prevalent non communicable diseases (NCDs) in the region as well as
enhancing information databases for quality control and post-marketing surveillance. There are three
research groups in the Centre—Herbal Medicine Exploration, Quality Control and Pharmacovigilance,
conducting studies on (a) the exploration of medicinal plants in Africa for isolation of phytochemicals and
development of subsequent standardized extracts and molecules to usable medicines for the treatment and
management of diabetes, hypertension and neurodegenerative diseases; (b) the development of analytical
assays for quality control of herbal formulations with the production of a more robust African
pharmacopeia and (c) development of pharmacovigilance database for African herbal products,
respectively.
