A Nigerian born doctor, Babafemi Taiwo is putting the country on the global spotlight for leading the research into a trial drug, Remdesivir which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization for the treatment of COVID 19 in the United States.
This approval was based on clinical data from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ NIAID which has found Remdesivir to be effective in treating COVID-19 patients as data from Coronavirus trial testing of the drug showed that patients who took it recovered within eleven days.
Taiwo played a leading role in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical trial of Remdesivir, an antiviral drug produced by American pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences.
Just a few days ago, Japan also approved Remdesivir for treatment of severe COVID-19 patients, under an exceptional approval pathway based on clinical data from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ phase three trial.
Speaking about the trial and his involvement, Taiwo had told CNN: “This is the first time that a drug that showed promise in the laboratory actually crossed the bridge and demonstrated efficacy in the patient population for whom it’s been tested. And so the trial that was reported today showed that looking at two important metrics of patient outcomes, number one, time to recover, and number two, survival, the study, at least using the data that we have, now showed good results” he said.
Taiwo is the Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago. He is also Director, Clinical Core of the Third Coast Center for AIDS Research, and Leader of the Northwestern University Site of the NIAID-funded AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). At Northwestern University, he leads clinical and translational HIV researchers from infectious diseases, hepatology, neurology, radiology, cardiology and nursing, and directs the development and implementation of NIH-sponsored interventional and observational HIV studies.
He has received research grants (to Northwestern) from industry sponsors for investigator-initiated studies.
He obtained his medical degree in 1991 from the prestigious University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He then proceeded to Berkshire Medical Centre for his postgraduate residency training in internal medicine from where he finished in 1996 and in 2005, began his fellowship at the McGaw Medical Center at Northwestern University.
He currently holds board certification in internal medicine and infectious disease and has published over 120 works on medicine and health.
Taiwo is the Director, Research in Africa, NU Center for Global Health. He has been involved in HIV treatment, research, and training in Nigeria for two decades. He is Principal Investigator of the NIH D43 Multidisciplinary NeuroAIDS Training and Research Program in Nigeria.
