Kenyan pharmacist awarded for promoting access to essential drugs

A 47-year-old Kenyan pharmacist has been awarded a prestigious continental prize for promoting access to essential medicine to the country's low income population.

Chairman of Kenya Pharmaceutical Distributors Association Kamamia Murichu on Wednesday won the "Titans Nations-Building Award" for his efforts to ensure poor Kenyans have access to life-saving drugs through parallel importation.

A statement sent from Nairobi said the University of Nairobi trained pharmacist beat thousand of contestants in Africa to scoop the prestigious award.

"Murichu has been at the forefront in advocating for reduced prices of essential medicine in order to prolong the lives of financially constrained Kenyans suffering chronic ailments," read the statement

It added that Murichu who also doubles up as the Secretary General of the East African Health Platform pioneered the parallel importation of life saving and cheaper drugs in the region.

"Together with other likeminded Kenyans, Murichu embarked on legal parallel importation of less costly medicine to help save lives of millions of people with terminal ailments like cancers, diabetes and hypertension," the statement said.

Parallel importation of medicine in Kenya has been resisted by pharmaceutical giants over patent ownership.

Murichu decried the exorbitant cost of essential drugs sold by multinational pharmaceutical companies in a country where the bulk of the population subsist on less than two dollars per day.

"The average cost of an antibiotic manufactured by an international drugs company is 15 dollars in the west compared to 95 dollars in Kenya," said Murichu.

He noted that the cost of cancer drugs manufactured by a multinational company is 600 dollars in India compared to 2,000 dollars in Kenya.

"Parallel importation allows us to purchase original drugs in markets where they are sold at much lower prices than in Kenya. Ultimately, Kenyans are able to access original medicines at lower cost," Murichu said.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has endorsed parallel importation of essential drugs to help save lives of under-privileged population with terminal diseases.

Kenya's ministry of health has fast-tracked enactment of policy and regulatory instruments to facilitate parallel importation of essential drugs. Endit