KAMPALA, Dec 20 2013 (IPS) – The Ugandan government is struggling to live up to its promises to protect the local production of antiretrovirals and anti-malarials from competition from abroad.
Following a 2008 agreement with Indian generic drug maker Cipla Limited, a Ugandan company, Quality Chemicals Limited (QCIL), began manufacturing antiretrovirals (ARVs) and artemesinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) in 2009.
But locally manufactured drugs are proving more expensive than generic ARVs produced in India, China and Pakistan, and even by big pharmaceutical firms in the West.
According to the Uganda Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, in 2010 Uganda’s pharmaceutical market was worth an estimated 276 million dollars; 90 percent of these medicines were …