President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has facilitated Gulu University with 3.7 billion shillings to work quickly on their COVILYCE herbal remedy which they say has already cured some 100 patients in Gulu district.
Museveni met the scientists from Gulu last night (Wednesday) at State House Entebbe. The Gulu University delegation to State House is was led by their Vice Chancellor Prof George Openyjuru Ladaah, but key member in the team was Dr Verocica Lamwaka, the pharmaceutical researcher behind the remedy.
Sources that attended the meeting said the president also directed the ministry of health to immediately clear Dr Lamwaka’s team to proceed with clinical trials. Lamwaka put her request for sh3.7 billion as a requirement to start producing COVILYCE in mass quantities and he reportedly accepted without hesitation.
According to Dr. Lamwaka, COVICYLE usually cures a patient presenting COVID-19 symptoms within 72 hours of starting treatment. COVICYLE comes in drops which are administered through the nose, mouth or ears. It also comes in suppositories (bullet shaped tablets which administered through the anus for rapid absorption via rectum walls for acute cases).
To cut costs, Lamwaka has been using a volunteer crew of one hundred local herbalists to administer COVICYLE remedy to patients in the villages and monitoring their progress.
Prof George Openyjuru Ladaah, reportedly used the visit to state house to reminded the President of a pending pledge worth 12 billion shillings whose fulfilment the university has been waiting for since 2012 to support its pharmacy programs.
The National Drug Authority has also reportedly allowed COVICYLE to roll out. Earlier, NDA had shown some hesitance to clear Covidex, a Covid-19 treatment support remedy product of Mbarara University of Science and Technology, but caved in as the public was demanding its supply.
