Quality Chemical to set up $50m TB, cancer drugs plant
Quality Chemical says the new plant will mostly focus on the development of TB and cancer drugs. Photo / File
What you need to know:
- Quality Chemical says it is weighing options from several likely funders that have already shown interest
Quality Chemical Industries, formerly Cipla Quality Chemical, is in negotiations to open a new manufacturing plant to produce new medications.
The plant, if realised, will produce medications for infectious and non-communicable diseases, to add to its HIV and anti-malarial drugs.
Mr Emmanuel Katongole, the Quality Chemical chairman, confirmed on Friday in Kampala, noting that the new plant will be used partially for Tuberculosis (TB) and cancer drug development. “Banks have given their terms, including Standard Chartered. Organisations like Usaid have said it will fund us, and the Italian government has also come on board. We are taking the best bet on the options available to us. This will be an investment of about $50m,” he said.
This is an important step forward that the company has taken since it was taken over by Africa Capitalworks in November 2023.
Africa Capitalworks paid $25m to acquire Cipla India’s 51.18 percent stake, giving Quality Chemical a new direction in which it renegotiated its Technology License Agreement to continue accessing the technology needed to protect its current contracts and business dealings, Manufacture and Supply Agreement to continue providing members of the Cipla Group with a predetermined volume of products and the Transitional Services Agreement, which granted it access to specific technology and databases to manage its business and establish its own name.
Monitor is also aware that Quality Chemical has seven products registered for release in the third quarter of the next financial year, under the categories of respiratory tract infections, anti-infectives, and metabolic health, while two others will be launched in the fourth quarter.
Quality Chemical largely relies on sovereign exports, which in the period ended March, supported its revenue growth by 20 percent to Shs265.3b.b.
The company also reported an improved profit position to Shs31.8b, which helped it to settle a large percentage of its debt.
Early this year, Mr Katongole told shareholders that strategic initiatives have not only boosted efficiency, but solidified the company’s position in sub-Saharan Africa, where it supplies 14 countries, but with a target of reaching 31 countries across Africa.
New medications
Quality Chemical and the Ugandan government as the sponsor built a facility in Luzira, Kampala, from which the company has manufactured several new medications such as the first-line triple combination ARV therapy and the two hepatitis B therapies. The plant has also been expanded, bringing its monthly capacity from 80 to 130 million tablets.
