Patrick Ogwang

In May/June 2021, when the delta variant of the COVID-19 made its entry into Uganda, Ogwang shared his anti-COVID-19 nasal drops with some family members and close friends and they all got better. Then Professor Ogwang himself came down with COVID-19. He used his medicine which he calls Covidex to heal himself. After he had about 10 documented cases, he approached the National Drug Authority for an emergency license. He was awarded a temporary emergency license, while he arranges full clinical trials. Medical practitioners may use Covidex along with other treatment regimens, since Covidex is known to have anti-viral properties.

Professor Ogwang estimates that controlled random clinical trials for Covidex will cost about USh2 billion (approx. US$565,000). As of July 2021, he and his team are writing the protocols to follow during the clinical trials. The government of Uganda has indicated willingness to fund the clinical trials.

In 2020, when an American visiting professor contracted COVD-19 in Uganda, Ogwang modified a concoction that he had been developing to treat viral mouth ulcers. He gave it to the American to drop into his nostrils several times a day. Prior research had shown that the mixture had antiviral properties. The visitor made a full recovery in short order! A colleague of the guest professor who had traveled with him to Uganda also fell ill with COVID-19 and was also helped, without having to be admitted.

Beginning circa 2004, Ogwang began serious study of the chemical compounds in the medicinal plants that were in his mother's "first aid kit". He began tinkering with various combinations and mixtures together with different concentrations and dilutions. According to media interviews he has given, he came up with a compound that has prevented one of his family members from suffering sickle cell crises for nearly 20 years. Another compound, when taken all year, provides immunity against contracting malaria. Ogwang also took off time and volunteered at the National Chemotherapeutic Research Institute (NCRI], in Wandegeya, under Dr. Grace Nambatya Kyeyune.

After attending local primary school, he studied at St. Mary's College Kisubi, in Wakiso District, where he obtained his high school diploma in the mid 1990s. He was admitted to Makerere University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy. He followed that with a Master of Pharmacology, from Makerere University as well. His third degree is a Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology, from the same university.

Ogwang was born circa 1973, in Otuboi Village, in Kaberamaido District, in Uganda's Eastern Region. His father was an Itesot and his mother was Langi. His father died first and then his mother also passed away. Ogwang was then raised by an uncle.