Local firm starts process to establish Shs37b anti-cancer drugs plant

Kampala.

Rene Industries, a local pharmaceutical firm, has started laying the foundation for the manufacture of anti-cancer drugs.
The project, according to Ms Khushboo Vadodaria, the Rene Industries director of operations, will cost between $8m and $10m (Shs30b to Shs38b).
Speaking during a tour of Rene Industries, Ms Khushboo, told Trade minister, Ms Amelia Kyambadde that the land on which the industry will be established has already been secured in Kireka, Kampala.
“Together with Uganda Cancer Institute, we have started a feasibility study and there after we will embark on establishing the industry,” she told Daily Monitor in an interview on the sidelines of the tour.
Rene is currently involved in the production of 20 per cent of Uganda’s medicines. However, according to Ms Khushboo, the company has capacity to “provide [between 40 and 50 per cent] of drugs [at affordable rates]”. The project, she added, is expected to be completed in the next five years.
Mr Rushikesh Vadodaria, the Rene managing director, said the project will open up opportunities, especially for raw material suppliers.
“There is an opportunity for local suppliers to supply us with Pharmaceutical Grade Starch. This is one of the key raw material that we import,” he said.
In her remarks, Ms Kyambadde pledged government support, saying: “We will train our farmers to produce the kind of maize you want as a raw material.”
She also took note of employment opportunities the industry will offer, promising to help Rene Industries to penetrate the larger Comesa market.