Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian Online - March 5, 2008
Slow start: Much excitement greeted last year's opening of Quality Chemicals, the first manufacturer of antiretroviral (ARV) medication in East Africa, but six months later the production lines are idle.
The factory, which cost about $38-million and covers 1 115m2, can produce two million ARV tablets in an eight-hour shift, but the National Drug Authority (NDA) of Uganda has not yet granted it a licence to produce the life-prolonging pills.
A long inspection process required for licensing and manufacturing the drugs has caused the delay, but factory officials expect it to be granted in the very near future.
Quality Chemicals MD Emmanuel Katongole said the cost of its ARVs would be significantly lower than the $15 a month the government paid for imported generics. He also anticipated orders from the ministries of health in neighbouring Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.
But until the factory gets the go-ahead from the World Health Organisation (WHO), and ARVs from Quality Chemicals are added to its list of recommended drugs after a WHO-NDA joint inspection, neither governments nor NGOs will buy.
"There is an understanding that if Quality Chemicals produces commodities of international standards, approved by the WHO at a competitive price, then the ministry of health will procure," said Kenya Mugisha, director of clinical and community health services for the health ministry. "But they must meet general manufacturing practices."
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