By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The National Drug Authority (NDA) has finally approved the Covidex herbal medicine for use by the public as a supportive treatment in the management of viral infections including the deadly Covid-19.
According to NDA, the herbal medicine has been cleared as a supportive treatment in the management of viral infections and not as a cure of Covid-19.
“NDA has granted Covidex an approval based on initial assessment, published literature and safety studies by the innovator. The product has been formulated from herbal plants that have traditionally been used to alleviate symptoms of several diseases,” NDA said in a statement.
Addressing journalists at the media center in Kampala, the NDA executive director, Mr David Nahamya on Tuesday confirmed that after various assessments and inspection of the factory manufacturing the herbal medicine, they have approved its use to treat viral infections.
“NDA gas granted COVIDEX an approval based on initial assessment, published literature and safety studies conducted by the innovator. The product has been formulated from herbal plants that have been traditionally used to alleviate symptoms of several diseases,” Mr Nahamya said.
Whereas many people have in the past few weeks testified that the herbal medicine does wonders in the treatment of Covid symptoms like flue, the National Drug Authority had stuck to its guns insisting that the medicine had yet not been approved and was therefore not fit for consumption.
Mbarara University was later drawn into the fight for the production and sale of the vaccine, prompting the university to say that it had never put Covidex on the market for sale since it had not been approved.
“Unfortunately, the product was leaked to the market before going through all the required procedures. At MUST we value the safety of the population and wish to follow the right procedures guided by the national regulatory and certification bodies including NDA and UNBS in the country, ”Mbarara University said in a statement.
The university said Covidex was produced under the Pham Biotechnology and Traditional Medicine Centre(PHARMBIOTRAC) one of the Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centre for Excellence in Uganda that is fully sponsored by the government to help support the development of herbal products in response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
The Covidex 20ml bottle of the herbal medicine was being sold at shs3000 when it had just hit the market over a month ago, by this week, it had reached shs50,000 in many pharmacies around Kampala.
This development is a relief to many though the prices are expected to escalate due to the high demand following the approval.
