Obi Peter Adigwe

Obi Peter Adigwe is a Nigerian pharmacist and a doctor of pharmaceutical policy. He was appointed the Director General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) with effect from 10 August 2018 by the former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari. Before his appointment as NIPRD boss, he was the Executive Secretary of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers' Association of Nigeria and holds a Doctor of Pharmaceutical Policy at

the University of Leeds, United Kingdom.

Dr. Adigwe was the pioneer Head of the Health Policy Research and Development (HPRD) Unit at the National Assembly (Nigeria), where he formulated research and development strategies in Health Policy with a view to developing an Evidence-Based approach to Legislation and Policy formulation in Nigeria. He also developed innovative and contextual capacity-building modules for Healthcare Professionals, as well as coordinated research that contributed to Health System strengthening. He has a significant number of peer-reviewed publications including the first Knowledge Attitudes and Perceptions study on Ebola in Nigeria, as well as a seminal paper on Rational Use of Medicines. While in the United Kingdom, he was the lead author of the article “Rewrite the Script for Non-medical Prescribing” which contributed to prescribing policy reforms in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Throughout his career, Adigwe has pioneered a significant number of innovative research and developmental projects. He led teams that secured various high-profile grants including a Clinical Trials Grant from the ECOWAS, an API Grant from African Export–Import Bank, a Drug Development Mega Grant from Tertiary Education Trust Fund and a European Union / Government of Bulgaria Grant supporting Local Production of Vaccines in the Nigerian setting. Based on the NIPRD study led by Dr Adigwe, the European Union EU announced the award of an €18m grant to Nigeria, as a catalyst for vaccines research.

Adigwe, identified as the unsung hero championing African capacity in phytomedicine development, led the analysis that underpinned Nigeria]]'s position on the Madagascar COVID-19 cure. Alongside like-minded colleagues, he worked behind the scenes on world-class research that helped combat the coronavirus in Nigeria. Post-covid, his work continues to drive innovation, especially interventions aimed at improving health outcomes whilst also enabling the achievement of key socioeconomic objectives.

He was appointed by Iziaq Adekunle Salako, to lead the Nigerian Ministerial Committee on the development and commercialization of phytomedicines value chain.

Dr. Adigwe has championed contextual engagements across the African continent, demonstrating a keen Pan-African approach to contextualizing international solutions for local issues. He led the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development in engaging with Department of Science and Innovation and the National Research Foundation Centre of Excellence in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (CIKS) based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). This culminated in a partnership to promote research and development, including human capital development in the Phytomedicine Value Chain.

He has engaged important continental entities to advance the development of contextual solutions to African problems. Among these are the Eswatini Epilepsy Organization for a game-changing symposium at the Eswatini Medical Christian University, turning indigenous plants into life-saving medicines; the University of Botswana for Bioinformatics and Genomics Sequencing research; and the Centre for Plant Medicine Research, Manpong-Akuapem, Ghana for collaboration in critical aspects of phytomedicines and drug development. These, amongst other interventions, informed the pan-African book publication titled “A Contextual Exploration of Phytomedicines' Development in Africa”.

Dr. Obi Peter Adigwe has headed and served on numerous Committees and Expert Working Groups at both national and international levels, including the D8, United Nations, World Health Organisation [WHO], The African Union and ECOWAS. He was recently appointed Chair of the Ministerial Committee for the Commercialization of Phytomedicine value chain in Nigeria and advocacy lead for SPARK Global on a translational research in Africa Dr. Adigwe was conferred with Nigeria's highest Productivity Award by the President of Nigeria in recognition of his hard work, productivity and excellence in National Developmental Initiatives. Adigwe is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Pharmacy, the West African Institute of Public Health, the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, as well as the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN).