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A Kenyan-based company has begun producing ARV drugs in what could be a major reprieve for HIV positive patients in the country.
This also marks the first time commercial ARVs are being manufactured in Kenya.
Universal Corporation, a Kikuyu-based pharmaceutical firm manufactured three million ARV tablets last week.
The factory has the capacity to produce one million tablets of the crucial drugs per day.
The company's CEO Perviz Dhanani says the factory received its final certification from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018, allowing it to start commercial production of ARVs.
“We have the capacity to produce one million tablets a day. The WHO certification means we can receive orders from governments and global agencies such as Unicef and Global Fund," Dhanani notes.
The company currently produces over 100 different pharmaceutical products that are sold in Kenya and six other countries in Africa.
Sh38 billion is spent annually to purchase ARVs for Kenyans who are living with HIV.
The money is donated by organizations such as the Global Fund and the United States Presidential Emergency Fund for Aids Relief.
The organizations mostly source ARV drugs from India at cheap prices. It remains to be seen whether they will order the drugs from Universal Corporation.
Speaking when she visited the facility last week, Health Cabinet Secretary Cecily Kariuki said: “This will boost the capacity of local manufacturers and create more employment opportunities for the economy and facilitate technology and skills transfer."
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How about promoting our locals in local drug production. Why must a foreignor make something that we are putting into our bodies. We have locals producing traditional medicine and that is what we ought to embrace first. It's time to ask, is someone trying to create dependency? "By creating dependency, we create power and need for ourselves". Who is creating dependency here? Who is creating power and need for themselves? Who is creating power over our bodies and what we put in them? This is a dangerous move. We need to start supporting traditional medicine and healing. Our forefathers did not need medicine cabinets and they lived full lives. What happened, that now we cannot live without foreign medicines and foreign medicine cabinets. We should encourage only what is tangible,and cannot be produced locally.
"TRUST but AUDIT"
Is kikuyu-based same as based in Kikuyu? When you have already stated that its a Kenyan-based firm,why do you have to repeat it"tribaly"
Really Maxiley, even you? There is a place called Kikuyu ;
After writing Kenya based,that should have been enough.Iwill be honest idid not know that there is a place called kikuyu.Thanks.But you should also agree that they way the writer framed it,could be read differently as well...
@Maxiley, it's called "Divide and Rule". Same old trick of colonialism, different day. Is it for the whole country or is it just targeting a specific group- in this case the so called "Kikuyus" because they are not "Kikuyus" - they are "Gikuyu's".
Even though it has a "Gikuyu" face, it is being funded by the so called "Whites" or Edormites.
As so called "Blacks", we must tell the truth for our survival and stop supporting lies, whether those lies are told in churches or in the streets, by our friends or by our enemies.
This is good. We hope the contents of these drugs and the usage instructions will be translated to local languages. The translation will be good for the intended end users to fully understand what they are putting into their bodies and the full side effect of those drugs.
This will help the end user in making a well informed decision.
It will also help create understanding between those explaining, what is in the drug, it's intended purpose (how it will heal the body and how long it will take) and how it is meant to be used.
Kenyan's do not want to remain in the dark in as far as what affects their body is concerned.
Yes. Employment will be good for the Kenyan translators.(We hope this is what is meant by job creation-employment). There also ought to be a measure of where those drugs are achieving results not just selling them.
How long before we see the results? and what are the expected results?