Nation to Produce New HIV Drug. 12/10/10
A new, more effective drug for treating HIV is to be manufactured in Uganda
By Taddeo Bwambale
12 October 2010
Kampala — A new, more effective drug for treating HIV is to be manufactured in Uganda. The drug, under the generic name Tenofovir, will be produced by Quality Chemicals starting early next year.
Patients need only to take one pill once a day, as opposed to several drugs at time.
Tenofovir is said to be more effective than the current drug combinations in lowering the ability of the virus to multiply and infect new cells.
According to the plant's chief commercial officer, George Baguma, the drug is safer and has no severe side effects, unlike most HIV drugs on the market.Some drugs used in antiretroviral treatment, such as Stavudine have been phased out due to their severe side effects.
Baguma said the company was in the process of registering the drug with the National Drug Authority. He, however, said production of the drug awaited a review by the Government of the existing guidelines of antiretroviral treatment.
He was speaking at a function to celebrate the plant's 3rd anniversary at Luzira on Friday.
The company currently manufactures antiretroviral drugs and anti-malarial drugs and supplies them to the Government.
It is the first plant in sub-Saharan Africa to receive pre-qualification certification by the World Health Organisation to produce HIV drugs.
Baguma said the company was awaiting inspection results from the Kenya Drug and Poisons board to start supplying drugs to Kenya.
He also said a new plant would be built to increase production, and that systems had been installed for the production of Tenofovir.
Tenofovir belongs to a class of drugs known as nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which decrease the viral load in the blood and lower the risk of contracting other diseases such as cancer.
A monthly dose of the drug will cost about sh44,000 ($20), much lower than the monthly cost of the same drug in Europe, which is about sh1.4m ($600).