New Vision for Pharma Profession – Prof Cyril Usifoh

Like a colossus in a very demanding field, a field that requires patience, dedication, commitment and passion, a field that even the strong- hearted fear to tread, Prof. Cyril Usifoh traverses the pharmaceutical field with plumb and shoulders high, accomplishing great feats one after another.

Like Newton wrote in his letter to fellow scientist Robert Hooke, 1675, that he was able to see far because he was standing on the shoulders of giants, Prof. Cyril Usifoh , with all humility, attributed his achievements in the field of pharmacy to Prof. EE Esien, the one who “fished” him out, Professors Oluwadiya, Olugbade, and Reisch, all who, not only made strong impression about pharmacy on his mind, but also helped him to crystallize his academic pharmacy career.  Team spirit, according to the erudite professor, is a critical factor in all of his career achievements.

Prof. Usifoh is an Academic Pharmacist. He obtained BPharm from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, (1979-1983); MSc from Sussex University, Brighton, England (1984-1985) and PhD from Westfalischen Wilhelms-University, Münster, Germany (1988-1992). He joined the services of University of Benin in 1993 and was promoted Professor in 2003, Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry (2003-2005) and Dean, Faulty of Pharmacy (2006-2010).

While expatiating on the motivation for him to pursue academic pharmacy, Prof. Usifoh said he loves mentoring people, especially young people. No wonder he has dedicated his life to teaching and research. According to him, he has served and still serving as active member and/or Chairman in various committees and sub-committees in the University of Benin and the local community. Adding that he equally functions as External Examiner to some Nigerian and Foreign Universities and Reviewer to several National and International Journals.

On his career aspirations, the meticulous professor of pharmacy said his vision is to transform the pharmacy profession to become a more profitable, prestigious, and enviable profession in Nigeria through strengthening of collective drive.

Prof. Usifoh, a staunch believer in team spirit and team work for greater collective goals said  “the need to strengthen the existing unity among Pharmacists, in order to solve our challenges and advance our profession, enhance the quality of life of our people, as well as advance the interest of pharmacists and the pharmacy profession in the country since Pharmacists play a key role in the delivery of healthcare services at all levels” is now. According to him, there is need to engage the leadership of Pharmaceutical industries and Government in order to enhance production capabilities of high-quality drugs and become a hub for the ECOWAS sub-region.

Speaking further on the governmental role for a more vibrant health sector, particularly in the area of research and drug production, Prof. Usifoh admonished governments to provide an enabling environment for researchers and cutting-edge researches that can positively affect out-put and development of the Pharmaceutical sector. The continuous importation of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), according to him, will continue to adversely affect research & development (R&D) if efforts are not made to get the needed petrochemical industry that will be the foundation for the production of APIs

The professor, who loves mentoring bemoans lack of younger people willing to pursue a   post graduate degree in pharmacy. Other challenges, he said, include lack of facilities, power supply, inability to procure fine chemicals, inadequate funding and bureaucracy in the system. Nevertheless, he added, “we still work under these conditions with alternative power supply (Solar) and subsidizing our research with personal funds.”

Speaking on the growing popularity of herbal medicine, Prof. Usifoh stated; “The study of plants is one of the oldest activities of man essentially as sources of food and medicine for our well-being.  The awareness, perception and access to herbal medicinal products in Nigeria has increased tremendously over the past three decades with not less than 75% of people worldwide relying on them for some part of primary healthcare. Although, therapies involving these agents have shown promising potential with the efficacy of a good number of herbal products clearly established, many of them remain untested and their use are either poorly monitored or not even monitored at all.

While stating the potential problems of herbal medicine, the former Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin said “Despite the development of more researched and formulated orthodox medicines, herbal medicines continue to be well patronized for persons in Nigeria with some patrons concurrently using both forms, oblivious of the unwanted effects that may occur. The consequence of this is an inadequate knowledge of their mode of action, potential adverse reactions, contraindications, and interactions with existing orthodox pharmaceuticals and functional foods to promote both safe and rational use of these agents”.

Safety, he said, will continue to be a major issue with the use of herbal remedies, he therefore calls on the relevant regulatory authorities like NAFDAC to put in place appropriate measures to protect public health, by ensuring that all herbal medicines are safe and of suitable quality.

That Prof. Cyril Usifoh is a meritorious teacher cum researcher is not in doubt. The arrays of national and international awards he has merited place the Professor of Pharmacy among the greats and leading lights in the Pharmaceutical industry.

His scholarly works have earned him a number of awards, including the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for research in biologically active heterocycles; Tetfund National Research Grant (N40million) as Principal Investigator in “The use of Pesticides in food preservation’’ and the 2017 May & Baker Professional Service Award in Pharmacy.

Prof. Usifoh has supervised (15) PhDs and several MSc and undergraduate students. He has also served as an external assessor to Nigerian Universities and around Africa (Ghana, Malawi, Namibia). He has over 87 scientific publications to his credit. He is currently the University Project Leader on Pesticide Research.

He’s also the chairman of the University-based Centre for Excellence in Africa (CfEA), a platform mandated to develop sustainable and significant working partnerships between African Leaders in Pharmacy Education & Development, and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

Among the scholarly works and contribution of Prof. Cyril Usifoh include the following

• The awareness on the use of Pesticides in food preservation and consequent public health implications.
• In a search for new heterocycles that could be life-saving agents, novel diphenyl sulphapyrimidines and phenolic suphonamidopyrimidines and investigated their antimicrobial properties were synthesised.
• Investigation of the cyclocondensation of acetylene amides obtained from isatoic anhydrides with orthoesters was executed in order to create new quinazolinones. A report for the first time of the 1,2 migration of 1,3–functionalized amino-2-propanol into 1,2-bifunctionalised amino-1-fluoromethylethane with DAST was made and hence provided a practical approach for the preparation of future 1-fluoroethylamine derivatives.
• Benzamides and carboxamides designed and synthesized by Professor Usifoh were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities and some of the compounds were as active as some currently used drugs.
• A wide variety of potential antihypertensive quinazolinone and the bioisoteric replacement with 1, 2, 4–benzothiadiazine 1, 1-dioxide containing the biphenyl tetrazoles as potential antihypertensive agents were designed, synthesized and evaluated for potential angiotensin II antagonists. Imidazoquinazolines, quinazolines and its aza analogs were also prepared, transformed and evaluated for anti-cancer, anticonvulsant and anti-malaria activities
• The search for antiepileptic compounds with a more selective activity and lower toxicity led to synthesis of quinazolinones, isoquinolines, hydantoins and N-phthaloylamino acids and screened them for anticonvulsant activities according to the Antiepileptic Drug Development (ADD) Programme of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethsaida, USA.
• The study of plants is one of the oldest activities of man essentially as sources of food and medicine for our well-being. The isolation for the first time the heterocycle 3-carbomethoxy pyridine responsible for the observed relaxation effect on the rat uterus was executed. The heterocycle and two other derivatives (R = CH₃ and R = (CH₂)₃CH₃) were synthesized and evaluated pharmacologically. The compounds were relatively not toxic and could be used to arrest threatened abortion.

The erudite professor of pharmacy, Usifoh, is a Member, European Association of Pharma Biotechnology (EAPB); Quantitative Structural Activity Relationship Society; International Society for the study of Xenobiotic; International Society for the Development of Natural Products (ISDNP); International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcome Research (ISPOR) and Royal Society of Chemistry. He is also a Fellow, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria; Fellow, West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists and Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Pharmacy.

Prof. Cyril Usifoh is offering himself for service as the next President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria with an ambition. An ambition to selflessly work to ensure an enabling environment for Pharmacists; An ambition to achieve the implementation of responsible use of medicines by building constructive partnership; An ambition to increase the visibility of PSN & Pharmacists in the Nigerian & global environment; An ambition to increase revenues of PSN to accomplish its mission and increase effective communications with the core operating principles of Accountability, Professionalism, Cost-effectiveness, Creativity, Enthusiasm, Transparency and Flexibility.

Professor Cyril Usifoh; Department of Pharmacy, University of Benin, Nigeria