Prof Patrick Ogwang has been sued before the High Court in Kampala, for claiming ownership of Covidex, a herbal drug used as a supportive treatment for Covid-19.
The Covidex producer has been sued by a concerned lawyer, George William Alenyo, and Christian Chamber of Commerce, Agriculture, Industry, Trade and Tourism.
Core to the petitioners’ concern is that Prof Ogwang, a civil servant, developed the herbal medicinal drug using government funds at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), alongside his colleagues and yet he is single handedly claiming its patent rights as an individual.
The petitioners plead to court to declare that the Covidex drug is a proprietary patent for the government of Uganda, having been developed on government funds, premises, and laboratories and by government public servants paid from the Consolidated Fund.
They also want the court to order a permanent injunction against Prof Ogwang from claiming patent or Intellectual Property (IP) over the Covidex drug.
Prof Ogwang, who trades as Jena Herbal U Ltd, shot to limelight recently when the National Drug Authority (NDA) last month gave the greenlight for his Covidex drug to be used as a supportive treatment for Covid-19.
Since then, there has been a mad rush for the Covidex drug, which is now coupled with a very high demand.
