MEA | African Excellence Awards 2024 gratifying how this meant that Africa would become a significant source of healthcare solutions on a global scale. The facility was financed through partner funding from the Equity Group as well as several other funders including Uganda Development Bank (UDB), with the funds used for construction, purchasing hi-tech medical equipment and machines, and working capital support. Dei BioPharma expects to employ up to 40,000 people at its plant, as well as tens of thousands of others, particularly in the agriculture sector. Now, the manufacturing plant consists of 10 different state-of-the-art facilities, these each specialising in vaccines, generics, nutraceuticals, oncology/cancer, penicillin, cephalosporins, non-beta-lactam, injectables, WFI, parentals, medical device, and ophthalmic. Additionally, it boasts the vital YKTM (Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni) GLP Biotech Laboratories, which covers the groundbreaking components of cancer research, QA/QC, drug discovery, gene therapy, cell therapy, mRNA therapeutics, vaccines, biosimilars, and biologics. Crucially, the facility has the ability to manufacture biological drugs, cytokines, therapeutic protein, peptides, and monoclonal antibodies. It is this part of the facility that cost more than $1 billion, and that which makes the facility so oneof-its-kind and game-changing. To compare, the proposed Moderna facility in Kenya, which will produce only mRNA vaccinations, will cost $500 million – This is just a small component of what Dei BioPharma Ltd is capable of at its plant in Uganda, and it has made everything it does possible at a fraction of the expense. The Dei BioPharma mRNA facility has the capacity to produce more than 1 billion doses of vaccines per year, and is expected to have a turnover of $10 billion annually by its tenth year. Dei BioPharma Ltd’s manufacturing plant produces high-quality, affordable medicines to cure a variety of illnesses, utilising the latest technologies such as mRNA and Cas9 to make a difference to the lives of millions of families across Africa. This includes the development of a drug to treat malaria, which contains natural herbs and can cure the disease in around three days. According to a study released by Ugandan scientists, the drug entitled DEI Anti-Malaria can destroy malaria-causing parasites within the human body using natural compounds extracted from plants. This natural formula has been in use for more than four decades and treats all forms of malaria, including the plasmodium falciparum resistant variant. Dr Magoola has advised how, just as Uganda discovered malaria compounds, it is expected that, with the work of Dei BioPharma, the country will become the very centre of excellence for drug discovery using plants and herbs in the world, since 70% of all biodiversity is found in the region. The company’s available vaccines go on to include inactivated vaccines to protect against chickenpox (varicella), diphtheria, influenza, hepatitis A, and rabies; live-attenuated vaccines to protect against measles, mumps, rubella (MMR combined vaccine), rotavirus, smallpox, chickenpox, and yellow fever; conjugate vaccines to protect against haemophilus influenzae type B, hepatitis B, HPV (human papillomavirus), whooping cough, pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, and shingles; and toxoid vaccines to protect against diphtheria tetanus. In 2022, experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) commended the company for its manufacturing facility, identifying it as a base for Africa to effectively respond to COVID-19 and other viruses. Leading the team, Prof. Joseph Okeibunor says, “This massive investment will provide immediate employment for Africa and lead research and manufacturing in traditional medicines.” “We’ve been called dreamers, inventors, rebels, risk takers, pioneers, geeks, and path-finders. We embrace those labels because in many ways, they’re true. We dream big. We invent bigger. And, most importantly, we often do what many thought was impossible.” It was in May this year that Dei BioPharma Ltd was granted the landmark license to begin manufacturing drugs at its facility by the National Drug Authority (NDA), which represents a significant achievement for the company. With all this in mind, professionals from across the healthcare industry hold Dei BioPharma’s Drugs and Vaccines Manufacturing Plant in high regard. Professor John B Kaneene states, “The plant meets world standards, adding that the practice of making drugs within the country will solve the problems of fake drugs in Africa so that the population can consume the right medicine.” In fact, falsified medicines account for between 30% and 60% of all medical products, with former Ugandan
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