By Ignatius Bahizi– East Africa Editor, The African Gazette The Uganda National Drug Authority (NDA) has allowed the use of COVIDAX, invented by Professor Patrick Engeu Ogwang of Mbarara University of Science and Technology found in western Uganda. The drug is to be used with guidance from medical professionals. This comes at a time when the country is desperate for anything that could help reduce the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, although NDA was quick to warn that COVIDEX is not a cure, but a therapeutic to be used alongside other Covid-19 treatments.
NDA spokesperson Abias Rwamwiri told the African Gazette that the authority mandated to regulate production, marketing and use of all drugs in the country, after learning of the new anti-viral drug about a month ago. They immediately stopped its use until due diligence was done, in fear that people would demand it out of desperation, although it had not been clinically assessed.
However, NDA’s warning against the use of COVIDEX was not heeded and it continued circulating throughout the country, with people sharing testimonies on social media about how it had helped even those who were critically ill due to COVID-19. Its effectiveness in offering quick relief and eventual normal recovery from the virus was also touted.
After realizing that the population was desperate amidst the high rise of Covid-19 infections ranging from 500-1000 and an average deaths toll of about 30 people per day, according to the ministry of health data, NDA this week issued a statement announcing that it had managed to assess COVIDEX based on published literature and safety studies conducted by the innovator, and granted it a notification – an initial approval granted to herbal medicine based on evaluation of scientific data to confirm quality, safety, and efficiency.
It also stated that the product was being formulated from herbal plants traditionally used to alleviate symptoms of several diseases, including viral infections.
However, the World Health Organization insists that COVIDEX must follow international standards for drug development and research that emphasizes due diligence. The world health body urged NDA to respect the resolution of the Ministers of Health of Africa in 2002 that requires African states to produce evidence of the safety, efficacy, and quality of traditional medicines based on rigorous clinical trials.
Dr. Solome Okware of the World Health Organization office in Kampala said in a voice statement that they don’t know the formulation of the product, insisting that, as of today, there is no traditional medicine for covid-19 that has been demonstrated to show safety and efficacy through robust clinical trials, but clarified that NDA-Uganda has not claimed that COVIDEX can cure Covid-19.
The world health body also recognized Uganda’s capacity of developing drugs because of having experts, developed research capabilities and policies that govern drug innovations, as well as the infrastructure required to make final products.
Uganda is ahead of other African countries in developing anti-Covid-19 therapeutics and is in phase two of conducting scientific studies, nine other African countries including Benin, Botswana, South Africa, Gabon, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria presented protocols concerning traditional medicine and COVID 19, and some of these countries are in pre-clinical phases, while others have reached efficacy studies.
This followed a meeting of scientists from the region between March and April 2021 who presented protocols on candidate products from traditional medicines to WHO about Covid-19.
It is not the first time an African country is trying out a herbal tonic against Covid-19. At the peak of the first wave of the viral infection last year, Madagascar launched a product from the Artemisia plant. The herbal drink was marketed as Covid—Organics, purporting that it cured Covid-19. However, WHO came out quickly to discourage its use as it was not scientifically proven.
The man behind COVIDEX is a Professor of Pharmacy and Pharmacology and a research officer at the natural chemotherapeutics research institute of the Ministry of Health in Uganda and is also a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy in the faculty of Medicine at Mbarara University of Science and Technology. He has been behind the production of several medicines including anti-Malarial medication, according to his online profile.
Ignatius Bahizi – East Africa Editor, The African Gazette
Ignatius is a journalist and an analyst of geopolitics and security of the Great Lakes region of Africa and has worked here for over ten years with different local and international media houses.
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