Museveni, lawyers disagree over Covid drug ownership

Lawyers have challenged President Museveni’s orders that institutions should stop frustrating scientists who are making efforts to come up with breakthrough inventions for Covid-19 pandemic fight.

Mr Museveni, in his televised address to the nation last Friday, while talking about the great efforts being put by scientists to develop therapeutics for Covid-19, said: “Last and more importantly, we must protect the intellectual property rights of the scientists involved. I have heard of arguments around ownership of the patents and trademarks, but this is a straightforward issue.”

“These belong to the scientists who discovered them. If the institutions that employ these scientists want to benefit from their innovations, they should levy a sort of tax, what the technology transfer experts refer to as sharing of royalties. Even then, much of the proceeds should go to the inventor, so that we encourage our scientists to discover more,” he added.

Beside Prof Patrick Engeu Ogwang, the inventor of Covid-19 treatment drug Covidex, another herbal remedy to support Covid-19 treatment, Covilyce-1 has been developed by Dr Alice Lamwaka from Gulu University, and all have direct effects on the virus,  according to Mr Museveni.   

The orders from the President on protecting scientists comes a few weeks after two law suits were filed against Prof Ogwang over the ownership of Covidex.

Prof Ogwang has disagreed with Mbarara University of Science and Technology authority over the ownership of herbal medicine.

Early this month, a concerned lawyer, Mr George William Alenyo, and Christian Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture, Industry, Trade and Tourism, sued Prof Ogwang seeking court’s declarations that the Covidex drug is a proprietary patent for the government having been developed on government funds, premises and laboratories.

Core to the petitioners’ concern is that Prof Ogwang, a civil servant, who developed the herbal medicinal drug using government funds at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, alongside his colleagues and yet he is single-handedly claiming its patent rights.

This is not the only lawsuit challenging the ownership of Covidex by Prof Ogwang.   The Advocates for People (AFP) and Mr Musa Muhammed Kigongo, the director and secretary general of AFP, on July 13, also sued the National Drug Authority (NDA) for giving a green light to Jena Herbals Uganda Ltd, a company owned by Prof Ogwang to manufacture, sell and distribute Covidex drug.

Now reacting to the Friday pronouncement by the President, AFP last Saturday, said in a statement that Mr Museveni is contradicting the Industrial Property law he signed in 2014. AFP added that the President’s pronouncement is “plainly illegal and not in public interest.”

“AFP notes that on January 6, 2014, the President himself signed into law the Industrial Property Bill which is now the law governing the issue at hand. Section 20 (5) and (7) of the said law states that where an invention is made by an employee in execution or not in execution of an employment contract, and where for making that invention the employee used money, materials and data know-how of the employer, the patent belongs to the employer, which in this instant case is Mbarara University,” the statement reads in part.

Last week, Prof Ogwang defended himself before the High Court in Kampala saying he is the inventor of Covidex and in his written defence, he denied using public funds to develop the drug.