Concern as local drug makers shun application for patent rights

Local pharmaceutical manufacturers have not applied for patent rights to protect their innovations for the past year, a senior official from the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), has said.

Mr Abraham Ageet, the senior patent examiner, attributed it to either having no new ideas or lack of funding for their research.

“But on our register right now, using last year's statistics, we didn't have any applications from our local pharmaceutical companies. I think they don't have anything new that they are developing,” Mr Ageet said last week in Kampala during the national dialogue on intellectual property and access to medicines in Uganda organised by the Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development.

He added: “The other challenge could be funding their research. Our companies are focusing on surviving, and right now they may not have the funds to carry out research on new medicines.”

However, he said they usually get applications from pharmaceutical companies from across the region applying to protect their newly manufactured drugs and names.

Speaking at the same event, Mr Timothy Wafula, the programme manager at Kelin, said most patents in the health sector are those created to protect their innovations, especially those that touch the health emergencies such as Ebola.

Mr Wafula also highlighted the challenges that come along with patents in the pharmaceutical world, which lead to monopoly, translating into high prices.