NDA rolls out programme to support local pharmaceutical manufacturers

The National Drug Authority (NDA) has launched the pharmaceutical quality control convention with programmes that support local pharmaceutical manufacturers to boost innovation and production of essential, efficacious and good quality medicine.

This programme comes with several initiatives to the local industry including, a bespoke training programme modern pharmaceutical quality control techniques, services support system for key analytical procedures, skills enhancement and resource sign posting among others.

Speaking to the Nile Post on the sidelines of the ongoing convention, Annet Ssenkindu, the acting director laboratory service at the authority said they have continuously supported local manufacturers through different avenues.

These she said include; fast tracking the authorisation of domestically manufactured products, providing tax waivers on all the imported pharmaceutical raw materials which are major inputs in the production of medicines and public health products and providing relevant training.

Ssenkindu said that the number of producers is set to increase since the Covid-19 pandemic which created a major strain on imports and withheld vital antiviral treatments, opened a window for local manufacturers to innovate more.

“NDA pledges to continuously innovate mechanisms that are aimed at protecting the public and bolstering economic prosperity for all Ugandans.,” she said.

Abiaz Rwamwiri, the NDA public relation manager, said that they have rejected some of the manufacturers drug prototypes many times for always misfiring on important aspects such as mixing the right chemical contents among others.

"We have mechanisms to protect the public, to protect the drug supply chain and to make sure that substandard drugs don’t go through the supply chain that we regulate. You will keep seeing us going after the hawkers, unlicensed drug outlets and we are not leaving Ugandans to choose which one is licensed or not,” he said.

Currently, 25 percent of the country’s drug needs are served by local manufacturers according to statistics by the authority, and the majority are in the production of antibiotics and anti-malarial drugs.