COA FS launched as Immune Booster and not a cure for HIV
The Centre of Awareness Global Peace Mission, a non-governmental organisation has officially launched its well-acclaimed dietary product, COA FS, as a food supplement and an immune booster to various auto-immune diseases.
The Centre said its product, also called the Centre of Awareness Food Supplement, should be continued to be taken only as an immune booster and not as a cure towards the management and treatment of diseases, especially, HIV and Hepatitis B.
The COA FS product is a pure organic dietary supplement which bioenergises, rejuvenates and harmonises the immunological cells as it said to contain phytochemical compounds, which warrant its use as supplement in human health.
Launching the product in Accra, Dr Samuel Ato Duncan, Executive President of the Centre of Awareness Global Peace Mission, urged Persons Living with HIV and AIDS not to abandon their Antiretroviral medications while taking the COA FS, but to take the later as an immune booster to quicken the process of repressing the viral loads and their CD4 Counts.
He said the product had been approved by the Food and Drugs Authority and the Centre for Plant Medicine Research, Mampong, as safe.
Also, various analysis of COA FS undertaken by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, the Mampong Centre for Plant Medicine Research, the University of Cape Coast, and the KwaZulu-Natal University in South Africa, had all indicated that the product contained components that support the immune system which had been compromised by ailments and diseases including Tuberculosis, HIV and Hep B.
“COA FS, therefore supports the immune system which has not been compromised to resist attack from foreign and damaging organisms like viruses, bacteria and parasites. It is useful as a supplement for patients receiving orthodox medication for such diseases”.
Dr Duncan, used the occasion to announced the new product named COA 72, being developed by the Centre for the potential cure of HIV/AIDS”, and called on stakeholders in the scientific sector to help develop the medicine through the use of scientific protocols.
He said already, further research done on the COA72 had indicated dramatic viral repression of the HIV virus while other analysis on its toxicity by renowned institutions had also proven that the medicine had the potential of treating HIV.
“What we are doing is to complement the work of the Ghana AIDs Commission. We are here for a process that can find lasting solutions to the people living with HIV”, Dr Duncan said.
“What we are now saying is that Ghana should do further work on this product to come out with proper scientific data using international standards protocols to say it works so that World Health Organisation can accept it for the treatment of HIV and AIDs”, he stated.
Mr Kyeremah Attuahene, Acting Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, said until the antiretroviral drug was introduced to manage HIV, the Commission had promoted and supported the use of herbal medicine in hospitals to manage the virus, and “so we are not against herbal medicine”.
He said the Commission would want PLWAs to stick to the use of antiretroviral drugs to manage the virus, until the FDA certifies any herbal medicine for the treatment of HIV.
He however announced that the Commission in May this year started collaboration with the Centre for Awareness on the possible evaluation of COA products and to establish whether they have any activity that would lead to product development.
“That is why in May this year, the Commission took the decision to work with the various stakeholders in the country, to have an independent scientific assessment or evaluation that would lead to product development “if it is found to be efficacious for HIV treatment.
He said the lack of fund for the development of drugs coupled with Commission’s mandate which did not included drug development, restricted it not to develop medication.
But it could play a facilitative role to bring the relevant institutions together to have an independent evaluation of the COA product to establish whether they had any activity of efficacy on the HIV related diseases.
Other speakers including Mr Kojo Eduful, President of the Ghana Federation of Herbal Practitioners Association, Dr M. Nlooto, a Senior lecturer at the KwaZulu-Natal University, South Africa, Professor Ben Adu Djan, a Director of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, all reiterated the need for Ghana to partner the COA producer, to the develop the relevant international standards protocols that would boost the COA 72 as the a cure for HIV.
Dr Nlooto said in South Africa, studies by his University had proven that many of the nationals who were HIV positive were using the COA products as a main treatment drug or as supplements to make them stay alive.
Source: GNA