Abstract

NIPRISAN^®, an antisickling phytomedicine for the management of sickle cell crises, was developed at the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) from a traditional medicine used among the Yoruba people of Nigeria, for the treatment of “abiku” or “ogbanje” – a condition characterized by high frequency of ill health, painful crises, jaundice and childhood death. The product is prepared from the seeds of Piper guineense; flower buds of Eugenia caryophyllata; stem parts of Pterocarpus osun; leaf stalk of Sorghum bicolor; and trona - a solid mineral. The five starting materials are normally sourced from their natural habitats, and procured as such, from local food stalls or herbal medicine dealers. This paper describes and quantifies as per WHO (1998) and BP (2004), the most striking physicochemical characteristics of these materials; and demonstrates that all, except E. caryophyllata, exist in more than one variety, differing significantly in either loss on drying alone, or in both total ash and water extractable matter. The results, including the occasional presence of lead in the trona samples, are discussed in the context of production according to good manufacturing practice (GMP).

Key words: NIPRISAN^®, starting materials, characteristics, antisickling, herbal medicine, chemical-manufacturing-control.