Africa risks consuming medicines not adequately tested on its people — Neuroscientist

Professor Mahmoud Bukar Maina, a Nigerian neuroscientist, has warned that Africans could continue to consume medicines developed without adequate testing on African populations, leaving patients exposed to treatments whose effects may not be fully understood in the continent.

Maina said the problem was not limited to dementia research but extended to medicine development, where African populations are often underrepresented in the research and clinical testing that determine how drugs work and their possible side effects.

He argued, “Oftentimes, the side effect, you know, is because when the drug was being developed, from the preclinical level to the clinical level, it has never been tested in our own people.

“So we are consumers, instead of us driving our own needs.”

He spoke in Abuja at the 23rd Scientific Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Neuroscience Society of Nigeria, where he called for greater investment in research driven by Africa’s own health needs.

According to Maina, Africa’s genetic diversity makes locally generated medical evidence particularly important, as findings from studies conducted in Europe, North America and other regions cannot always be assumed to apply fully to African populations.

He said the research deficit is already evident in dementia, with cases in West Africa projected to increase by 348 per cent over the next 25 years.

Maina said despite the looming burden, less than one per cent of dementia research globally had come from Africa up to 2022.

“Up to 2022, only about one per cent of dementia research, in fact, even probably not up to that, less than one per cent of dementia research has come from Africa,” he insisted.

“That means we are not prepared to tackle this challenge that is about to hit us in the next 25 years,” Maina maintained.

Maina, who is Director of the Biomedical Science Research and Training Centre at Yobe State University and Special Adviser to the Yobe State Governor on Science, Innovation and Research, said his research programme is working to generate evidence specific to African populations.

He explained that his team is studying people living with dementia, examining genetic factors, biomarkers and other characteristics that may influence the risk and progression of the disease.

The researchers are also using induced pluripotent stem-cell technology to grow brain cells in the laboratory from cells obtained from research participants, allowing them to investigate disease processes at the cellular level.

Maina said the research is not intended to remain within Africa, explaining that his team compares its findings with studies from Europe, North America and other parts of the world to contribute to global understanding.

He, however, identified funding as the biggest challenge facing brain research, alongside inadequate equipment, laboratory consumables, research facilities, collaboration and public engagement.

“Funding is the biggest, biggest challenge,” he said.

The neuroscientist urged governments, philanthropists and communities to invest more in brain research, stressing that building a healthier population would also improve productivity and strengthen the economy.

“If your population is healthy and they can think and do things well, you are going to have more people that contribute positively to your economy,” he added.