Nigeria imports about 70 per cent of medicines it consumed. This does not go well with Prof. Martins Emeje, a distinguished professor of Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine, as he has dedicated over 15 years, focusing on improving the lives of Nigerians through design, teaching and implementation of practical strategies for local production of drugs.
Having conducted several research projects in herbal pharmacotherapy, herbal formulation, compaction characteristics of pharmaceutical powders, and excipient characterisation, his expertise focuses on the development of solid oral dose formulations for immediate- and sustained- release applications and the physical properties of polymer-polymer and polymer-drug interactions.
The outcome of his research made him discover wide array of naturally occurring raw materials that could be harnessed as carriers in drug delivery and the outcome further generated his interest in pharmaceutical nanotechnology and nanomedicine. In this respect, he undertook an extensive molecular solid-state characterization and application of natural polymers in nanomedicine for the targeted delivery of challenging conventional drugs and insoluble bioactive agents. He became the patent holder for the first starch-engineered nanodrug delivery system in Nigeria.
Emeje was the head of National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research & Development’s (NIPRD) spin-off during which the first indigenous phytomedicine currently marketed as NICLOVIX™ was licensed to an indigenous pharmaceutical company, May & Baker Nig. Plc.
Prof. Emeje, who has over 10 grants, a rare fit in the academia in developing countries is the principal investigator of another foreign grant worth over $11 million for the development of antimalaria, diabetes and tuberculosis drugs from Nigerian medicinal plants and the establishment of the first nanomedicine centre in Nigeria.
State-of-art equipment in this grant have arrived in the country, and in a couple of months, postgraduate students will no longer have to travel to other countries for skilling, as the centre will be the training hub for Africa. The centre is now equipped to teach regulatory science, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data science. Many Universities and organisations in and out of country have indicated interest to collaborate and/or partner with NIPRD in order to benefit from this capacity.
His work on phytomedicines has so far resulted in three major products listed by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and available in the market. Also, his work in the application of nanotechnology in drug delivery won World Health Organization (WHO) innovation award in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Emeje is part of an international team of scientists from 23 countries who recently won an European grant on developing natural products for use in combating antimicrobial resistance. The team which met at Leiden, The Netherlands on October 5 – 7, 2022 has agreed to deploy the latest technology in combating antimicrobial resistance in Nigeria. It will be the first international effort at combating antimicrobial resistance using traditional medicine approach, and Nigeria is lucky to be benefiting from this through Emeje’s effort. His team also won a WHO grant for developing a novel product from Nigeria’s natural resources for the management of sickle cell disease; the outcome of this research will be a major breakthrough and relief for sickle cell sufferers as they will no longer have to take many drugs on daily basis.
He developed NiprimunePlus™ listed by NAFDAC for the management of covid-19 symptoms just seven months following the outbreak. As head of R&D at NIPRD, he coordinated the development of about 23 products which are ready for industry take up. A major innovation was the establishment of a free training webinar covering variety of areas with emphasis on strengthening regulatory science, a major gap which is affecting the nation’s ease of doing business and foreign direct investment.
In April 2021, Emeje was appointed by WHO as a member of the world health body’s Expert Committee for development of Target Product Profiles (TPP). He also won the highest M&B-sponsored professional award in pharmacy in November 2021.
He is enlisted in the World Who’s Who and the International Biographic Congress, London. He is listed among the 2000 outstanding scientists of the 21st century.
Emeje, has over the years, trying to pass his knowledge to the next generation by teaching in various universities. He is currently a Professor at the African Centre of Excellence for Mycotoxin and Food Safety, Federal University of Technology, Minna, where he teaches postgraduate (Masters and Ph.D.) courses in nanotechnology, intellectual property, and food safety. He is also an International postgraduate supervisor at De Montfort University, UK as well as a visiting professor and consultant to Gregory University, where he offered to facilitate the establishment of a cGMP drug facility.
He has taught and mentored many undergraduate and postgraduate students. He has trained over 100 Pharmacist-interns, and facilitated international postgraduate scholarships for more than 10 to advanced laboratories in United States of America, United Kingdom, India and China. He has also supervised several Masters and PhD student projects.
Emeje is a holder of Bachelor of Pharmacy with distinction from ABU Zaria, Master of Pharmacy and PhD from the University of Nigeria, where he received the best PhD award, and was enlisted in UNN “Faces of Research Vi”.
He had specialised post-doctoral training in molecular and cell biology and nanoscience at Tezpur University and National Chemical Laboratory respectively, in India. Emeje is also a graduate of project management from Walden University, USA, and had earlier obtained a professional teaching qualification from ABU Zaria, where he equally graduated as the overall best graduating student with nine prices and an automatic scholarship.
He won the academic pharmacist of the year award and Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria’s distinguished Service Award back to back. He is a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, and the current head of Research and Development, NIPRD, Nigeria.
Currently, Prof. Emeje is applying knowledge-based science to inform health policy and decisions, with key interest in regulatory issues as well as developing pharmaceutical products with better efficacy. In the last half a decade, he has actively carried out several national studies of public health importance, including tracking antibiotic use in animals and man, use of herbal medicines in the vulnerable such as pregnant women and the pediatric population, in addition to and developing standards for food safety.
Prof. Emeje is cited more than 100 times yearly by colleagues across the globe and has over 150 publications including media mentions, patents, and trademarks. He is an external examiner to several universities in Nigeria, Ghana and India.
