ECF stakeholders meet in Uganda to discuss report on field safety and efficacy study
GALVmed recently convened a meeting of key East Coast fever disease stakeholders in Uganda to discuss the final report of the ECF field safety and efficacy study. The meeting took place at the Lake Victoria Hotel in Entebbe Uganda on Friday 23rd February 2018. In attendance representing GALVmed were Dr Jeremy Salt, Chief Scientific Officer and Dr. Samuel Adediran, Senior Commercial Manager.
In his opening remarks Dr. Kenneth Mugabi, a senior veterinarian from the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry & Fisheries reiterated the importance of livestock in the Ugandan economy and the impact of livestock disease, especially East Coast fever on the livelihood of livestock keepers. He noted that the Infection and Treatment Method (ITM) has been recognised as one of the most effective control tools against ECF and thanked GALVmed for the financial support to improve ECF vaccination uptake in Uganda. In his presentation, Dr. Jeremy Salt traced the objectives of GALVmed to control neglected diseases including ECF, by working with global and regional partners in product development, manufacturing, marketing and policy. Dr Salt observed that, with funding support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UK aid from the UK Government, GALVmed has supported product development and distribution of the ITM Muguga cocktail.
Dr. Josephine Nanyanzi, Principal Regulatory Officer at the Uganda National Drug Authority explained that following the submission of the registration dossiers and completion of the efficacy studies, the only step remaining for registration of the vaccine in Uganda was the inspection of the production facility in Lilongwe, Malawi. Based on the results of the study presented by Dr F. Musisi, the monitoring team concluded that the results demonstrated the efficacy and safety of the vaccine under field conditions and recommended that the product can be used widely in Uganda. Other participants including market distributors implored the NDA to register the vaccine and pave the way for more commercial use in Uganda.
-By Samuel Adediran