A second relief treatment for Covid19 has been launched in Mbarara District, after clearance from the National Drug Authority (NDA).
The new herbal complementary drug named Vidicine, is an invention of Mr Edward Kazire, the renowned proprietor of Kazire Health Products Ltd.
This comes just two months after the NDA approved production of Covidex which was invented by Prof Patrick Ogwang at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST).
Addressing journalists in Mbarara on Wednesday, Mr Kazire said the NDA approval followed rigorous assessment of the drug and inspection of the factory in Lugazi , Mbarara.
“One year ago, we started on this battle of Covid-19 management when the country was in a big panic. Together with Chinese experts, our scientist team was able to first study the virus movement to embark on research and manufacturing the drug to deal with the virus,” he said.
“It was not easy but we are grateful to the Chinese scientists who quickly sequenced and gave us the sequence of the virus because without understanding the sequence it would not be easy for us to understand how we could quickly deal with this virus.”
“Finally, on the 16th of August 2021, the National Drug Authority notified our herbal medicine under the brand name Kazire Vidicine. This notification means that our drug can now be manufactured on large scale and be sold in all registered and accredited pharmacies, and drug shops across the country”. He added
The drug he said has been built to stop inflammation, protect the lungs and keep oxygen levels up so that there is less risk for one to need ICU.
“It also protects the organs and control the viral replication until when one turns negative,” says Kazire
“In our study we focused on the molecules of life which would stop the inflammation of the lungs, kidneys and the heart. Once we could do that, we would arrest the cytokine storm which is the biggest challenge where the health workers give up and we lose people,” he said
The drug, Kazire says is made from over 50 plant species, which were screened and identified with help from MUST.
Shadrach Atuhaire, the Research Assistant at Kazire Health Products Ltd, says so far the drug has been used to treat more than 290 Covid19 patients in districts of Mbarara, Kampala Sheema, Ntungamo and Rukungiri before being approved by NDA officials.
“Supplemented with this product, none of them went for oxygen so that is one major land mark that we know we have achieved” he said.
About Shs he said Shs 370million was invested in research and development of the drug.
On the market, one bottle of Syruped Vidicine will be going for Shs 10000.
source: https://chimpreports.com/kazire-launches-own-herbal-covid19-drug/