MPs query Shs2bn payment to Covidex maker

MPs wondered why the concoction manufactured by Professor Patrick Ogwang was pushed to the market before clinical trials were completed.

The parliamentary Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) has asked the National Drug Authority to clarify why the inventor of Covidex drug has been given Shs2 billion of taxpayers’ money to conduct clinical trial on his drug.

Legislators on the committee say the same drug is already being sold in public.

Iki Iki County MP Robert Kasolo raised the concern while appraising traditional drugs on the market with approval signs of the National Drug Authority (NDA), yet little is known about the authenticity of these labels.

Citing Covidex, Mr Kasolo wondered why the concoction manufactured by Professor Patrick Ogwang was pushed to the market before clinical trials were completed.

“Covidex is picking money from this Parliament to undergo clinical trial," Kasolo said.

"If you do confirm that it is a drug and it has gone through those stages, does this Parliament see it fit for them to be given money?"

During the reading of the 2024/25 National Budget, Finance minister Matia Kaisaija announced that the government had provided Shs2.07 billion to support Jena Herbals of Prof Ogwang to undertake clinical trials of his natural therapeutics.

Dr Ogwang is also tasked with establishing an internationally certified production facility to manufacture and commercialise the herbal drug.

But MP Kasolo is not convinced with the manner of putting the cart before the horse.

He said: "There are number of herbs on the market, some bear the National Drug Authority certification which isn’t hard to differentiate whether it is from NDA or somebody just decided to go to Nasser Road and manufacture. A case in point is Covidex."

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Prof Ogwang concocted herbs that was touted as the magic potion against the deadly virus that had brought the global order to its knees.

On June 29, 2021, NDA approved the herbal concoction that Ogwang was selling under the brand name Covidex as a supportive drug treatment for the coronavirus disease and other virus infections.

The drug was thus licensed and approved to be sold in pharmacies as a supportive treatment for Covid-19.

"Today, June 29, 2021, Uganda National Drug Authority has notified Covidex as a supportive treatment in management of viral infections and can now be accessed in all licensed drug outlets," tweeted UNDA on their official Twitter (now X) page.

In addition to the notification, NDA cautioned the public to avoid self-medication and take the local medicinal herb and other drugs on the advice of a professional health worker.

Explaining the paradox of approving a herbal concoction for human constumption and treatment and later saying it needed funding for clinical trial, NDA secretary David Nahamya told Parliament on Wednesday that Covidex is certified for treatment of respiratory infections generally but that what it now requires is trial for Covid treatment.

"If you look at the ingredients, those plants are known to alleviate some of the symptoms but the trial which is pending is that trial that it is treating Covid-19, that is what necessitates the clinical trial," he said.

Covidex contains extract from Warburgia Ugandensis, also known as Ugandan greenheart or simply greenheart tree, is a species of evergreen tree native to East Africa.

Scientists who took interest in Covidex after its efficacy spread around the world at a time of a desperate need for Covid cure have always wanted to confirm that the extracts of berberine and zanthoxylum gilletii - used as supplements and treatments of viral ailments - was proven.

As such, recommendations for clinical trial remained.

"We approved it as something to alleviate and aid like the way we have these syrups that you see, they don’t treat the flue, but they help you to alleviate the symptoms," Nahamya told Cosase.

"It was very clear when we were approving it, the trial is to whether it can kill the virus."

Prof Ogwang is not the only scientist slated to benefit from funding from government, as others such as Prof Jennifer Serwanga Sempala will be also receive an additional Shs25.24 billion to advance her research in human vaccines.

The government says the funds are intended to help her to complete the research and start producing the vaccine.

The anti-tick vaccine project at Makerere University, spearheaded by Dr Margaret Saimo-Kahwa, that is said to have undergone clinical trials, will also be provided an additional Shs25 billion to produce and commercialise the anti-tick vaccines.