Quality Chemical Industries Limited to build US$50M drug producing laboratory
UGANDA – Quality Chemical Industries Limited (QCI), a Kampala-based pharmaceutical manufacturing company, is in negotiations to set up a new US$50million drug producing laboratory.
Business Monitor Uganda quoted Mr Emmanuel Katongole, the Quality Chemical chairman, 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.
The plant, if realised, will produce medications for infectious and non-communicable diseases, to add to its HIV and anti-malarial drugs.
Business Monitor Uganda also revealed 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.
At the end of 2023, Africa Capitalworks SSA 3, a Mauritius-based investment vehicle, from India’s Cipla Group completed the US$25mn (Shs94.2bn) acquisition of CQI, making Africa Capitalworks the new majority shareholder.
Cipla Quality Chemical Industries said it has secured from Cipla rights to the technology it needs to manufacture antiretroviral drugs and anti-malarials to fulfil its business obligations.
It has also been granted access to the vital technology and databases required to sustain its operations pending registration of its own such assets, and has entered into an agreement to continue to supply products to Cipla Group companies for at least three years.