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KAMPALA PHARMACEUTICALS BUILDS NEW ANTIMALARIAL LAB

March 31, 2006

Uganda-based Kampala Pharmaceutical has constructed a $100,000 stability chamber lab in Ntinda in the southern part of the country, which will focus on manufacturing malaria drugs.

The lab is the first of its kind in the region, noted Nazeem Mohamed, president of Kampala Pharmaceutical. "The failure to have a stability chamber in the country necessitated us to have [drugs] stabilized in either Europe or India, so that they would have a longer shelf-life," he said. "Now, we [can] do this from our premises." This will help minimize the costs involved in transporting drugs from abroad, he added.

Kampala is the largest manufacturer of pharmaceutical products in Uganda, where it produces antibiotics, cough and cold medications, alagesics and antimalarials. The country has struggled with increasing malaria rates in recent years - at Ugandan hospitals, the disease accounts for 25 to 40 percent of outpatient visits, 20 percent of hospital visits and up to 14 percent of inpatient deaths.