Cameroon has validated a traditional solution against Covid-19. The remedy -Corocur- was developed by Cameroonian cardiologist Euloge Yiagnigni Mfopou and can now be used to treat Covid-19 patients in the country. On July 8, the product was approved by health authorities to be marketed.

"I have the honor to inform you that your file has received a favorable opinion from the National Drug Commission, meeting in its session of 17 to 18 May 2021. (...) The marketing authorization granted to this product is valid for 3 years from the date of signature," Health Minister Manaouda Malachie said in a statement signed last Thursday.

The National Drug Commission is responsible for studying applications for approval of pharmaceutical products and proposing to the Health Ministry "economic, technical or scientific advice" to market the products. Corocur is the first Cameroonian drug against Covid-19 approved by the ministry. This product, presented as an "improved traditional medicine," is a dry powder of Thymus vulgaris (commonly called thyme) of 50g, packaged in a 60 ml bottle. It will be used as an "adjuvant to the treatment of Covid-19", the Minister said.

This means Corocur can be made available to the public at authorized drug outlets not as a Covid-19 cure, but as a supporting treatment. It reinforces or complements the effects of the primary medication. "We have proposed a cost of between 5,000 and 10,000 CFA francs per bottle to allow everyone to have the product easily," said Dr. Yiagnigni Mfopou, founder of the “Les promoteurs de la bonne santé "clinic in an interview with Le Jour. The doctor says he has already treated 1,500 patients with his drug and assures that his product is efficient and "has practically no side effects." He also says that arrangements are already being made to increase production and make the remedy available to all those who need it. 

The approval of Corocur is part of the endogenous response to Covid-19. In his address to the nation on May 19, 2020, President Paul Biya gave his green light to traditional medicine by encouraging "all efforts to develop an endogenous treatment" against this viral disease.

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