The Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) has offered five acres of land to enable Prof. Patrick Ogwang set up a factory for the manufacture of Covidex, a herbal drug that has been approved as supportive treatment for Covid-19.
While handing over an investment licence to Prof Ogwang on Wednesday, 21 July 2021, Investment minister Evelyn Anite also announced a ten-year tax holiday to Jena Herbals Ltd that manufactures Covidex.
“Our focus is on supporting local investors. We believe that our country can be built by ourselves,” said state minister Anite.
“Our goal is to make sure that we can support the local investors to set up and register their businesses as soon as possible. The land will enable him develop his and other solutions to enable the growth of the pathogenic economy,” she added.
The five acres of land are located in Soroti Industrial Park. Prof. Ogwang welcomed the UIA offer and said he is ready to set up the new factory immediately.
“We have already mobilized resources. We are ready to start construction as soon as the environment assessment report is out. I want to thank government for putting more emphasis in local investment,”Ogwang said.
The development is a shot in the arm for Prof Ogwang whose Covidex drug has already been hailed by the public for its efficacy.
Recently, he applied to Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) seeking a trademark for Covidex to protect his brand from infringement by other drug makers and those making counterfeits. an individual or a company from those of other enterprises.
A trademark may consist of any word, symbol, design, slogan, logo, sound, smell, colour, label, name, signature, letter, numeral or any combination of them and should be capable of being represented graphically.
The application comes as Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) battles for ownership of Covidex.
Mbarara University recently said they host the Pham Biotechnology and Traditional Medicine Centre (PHARMBIOTRAC) which is one of the Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centres for Excellence in Uganda that is fully sponsored by government to help support the development of herbal products in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
They said it is through this arrangement that they were able to come up with Covidex.
In a June 14, 2021 letter, MUST’s Vice Chancellor Prof Celestino Obua, said that Covidex is fully owned by the university and that Jena Herbals Uganda Limited, the company owned by Prof Ogwang should stop manufacturing the product unless the University permits.
Ogwang, the inventor of Covidex and Jena Herbals (U) Ltd, the manufacturers has since threatened to sue MUST for 100 billion shillings over ownership of the drug.