In 2020, former High Court judge Justice John Bosco Katutsi exclusively told Monitor about his healing journey that saw him overcome non-communicable diseases, including diabetes.
He purred over a concoction he miraculously discovered and stabilised his health over a five-month stretch.
Five years later, Justice Katutsi confirms that his diabetes was effectively reversed two years ago. He now freely eats his favourite fruit, the pineapple.
‘When you get healed from a disease, it takes five years before you are declared completely cured of the same. By the time that interview ran, I had been off medication for about three and a half years. One and a half years later or so, I went for the final medical inspection and I was found free,’ he says.
He adds: ‘I am happy if the government has taken this up to continue with developing the medicine. Indeed, it will help Ugandans, and I know many other people across the world.’
A 2019 report by the Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Institute (NCRI) on the evaluation of the antidiabetic properties of the same concoction (SD2018) and herbal formulation in an alloxan-induced diabetic animal model concluded that it was curative for diabetes.
The report further indicates that out of the 10 ingredients, only two were not active ingredients for diabetes.
‘… the results of the present study indicate that SD2018 exhibits anti-hyperlidemic properties, and overall, the present study demonstrated the effect of SD2018 to be curative,’ the report reads.
Katutsi remembers writing ‘to the Permanent Secretary in the Health ministry in 2017 to take this concoction for tests and see if it could be a remedy to many Ugandans, but I don’t think they acted on it.’
Mr David Ssenfuka is the researcher behind the concoction. While the results are there for all to see, Mr Ssenfuka says regulatory hurdles and bureaucratic processes threatened to steal the thunder of the herbal concoction. And maybe still does.
A March 29, 2023 letter signed by several senior citizens of the country, whose lives have reportedly been turned around by the concoction, speaks volumes. It shows how hope and despair live side by side. In the letter, the Ugandans beat the concoction’s drumbeat of victory.
The petitioners, who included Katutsi; Prof Livingstone Luboobi, former vice chancellor of Makerere University; Mr John Mujinya Bigyemano, a retired broadcast journalist and consumer activist; Mr Joseph Mulwanyamuli Semwogerere, former Buganda Kingdom premier; as well as Prof John Ddumba Sentamu, former vice chancellor of Makerere University, sought the audience of then US President Joe Biden over popularising the concoction.
The petition reads: ‘We write to you basing upon very strong convictions of your country as a bastion of prosperity, liberty, democracy, a free economy, and a healthy population.We are senior citizens of Uganda who have previously served our country in various callings, united by our membership of an alliance formed to give support and backing to the local biotech innovations of our own, Mr David Senfuka, that he has successfully used to treat various cancers and diabetes. Despite the well-documented successes in the cure for these diseases, Mr Ssenfuka’s research efforts to advance his innovations to internationally acceptable standards have been met with only minimal success.’
It continues:’Mr Ssenfuka’s research has satisfied animal trials of its pharmacological efficacy for treating cancer and diabetes, as assessed by our home government’s Natural Chemotherapeutic Research Institute. He has, however, not been successful in developing the drugs to the standards required for human clinical trials.’
Moving forward
Ssenfuka says he has successfully treated between 4,000 and 5,000 diabetic cases. He says the cancer patients number between 1,000 to 1,500.
‘I don’t have a facility that has machines; I decline other cancer cases that would involve complicated diagnostic machines,’ Ssenfuka says.
Publications about Mr Ssenfuka’s feats caught the eye of President Museveni. Soon, alongside Prof Charles Ibingira and Dr Matthias Magoola, he met President Museveni courtesy of a letter from Jane Ruth Acheng, the Health minister, on April 29, 2025.
‘Reference is made to the letter from the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, Ref HPS 97/172/01 dated 15th April 2025, communicating a directive from HE the President that I convene a meeting with relevant stakeholders to validate claims by three scientists who have sought support from the government. Further reference is made to our consultative phone conversation on April 18th, 2025, about the modalities for this meeting,’ Dr Acheng wrote.
Documents seen by Monitor indicate that the Cabinet green-lit $350m (about Shs1.2 trillion) to facilitate the development of the concoction into a medicine.
This money, according to the document, would also facilitate the construction of a plant in Uganda. Upon meeting Mr Museveni in April this year, more doors opened. We understand that a team of top researchers and funders from the US had been invited by Museveni to look into the remedy with a view to developing it and making it available.
The five members included Ms Krutter Kimberly Cianne, Ms Mahon Patricia Eileen, Urban Timothy Robert, Ms Stephens Mariana Rose Satterley, and Ms Ramachandra Arcana.
Ms Krutter, the chief executive officer of K-Factor Strategies, an American-based science and research firm, who also led the team, is spearheading the development of the concoction. She said they were impressed with their findings that SD2018 shows tremendous promise as a treatment for diseases like Type 2 Diabetes and has demonstrated efficacy against a variety of cancers, based on patient testimonies.
‘We believe investment is needed to examine the medical records of the thousands of patients treated by clinician Ssenfuka with SD2018 over the last 11 years to support further scientific validation. In its current form, as a compounded liquid medicine, SD2018 cannot be produced at scale. Investment is needed to stabilise and standardise the formula for mass manufacturing,’ she says.
She adds:’We are currently obtaining commitments by private investors and philanthropic grant-making organisations necessary to perform the scientific validation of SD2018 so that the product can be patented. Once the patent is achieved, the tier one investors we are speaking with will want to partner with the Government of Uganda to bring SD2018 to market.’
Ms Krutter further contends: ‘The anecdotal evidence provided by those personal patient testimonies were striking, including full remission from cancer over extended periods of time. When President Museveni invited us to meet with him a second time at the State House, we were able to report to him that we believe SD2018 warrants further development and a commitment by the Ugandan government in a public-private partnership to manufacture this medicine at scale. The urgency is due to the global pandemic of Type 2 Diabetes and cancer. If SD2018 can be brought to market, it could save millions of lives every year.’
Upon interviewing and examining a dozen survivors of both cancer and diabetes, the experts wrote a report to President Museveni.
Why it matters
Ssenfuka says it takes the diabetes remedy between three to six months to heal the disease, depending on one’s response to medication, and about six months to one year for cancer.
He says his concoction costs anywhere between Shs10m and Shs15m per unit for diabetes and between Shs20m and Shs30m for cancer.
According to an Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) study published in late 2023, the annual cost for diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes patients in Uganda was Shs2.2 trillion (approximately $580m in 2022).
A major portion of this cost is borne by individual households, especially for those who rely on private healthcare.
The report breaks down the figures, indicating that out of the Shs2.2 trillion, households spent Shs1.7 trillion on diabetes in 2022, primarily through out-of-pocket expenses for medications and complications. The government contributed Shs435b for diagnosed patients.
The report also indicates that annual medication costs in 2022 were about Shs3m in private facilities versus Shs1.3m in public facilities.
Consultations and hospitalisation in 2022 cost roughly Shs1.4m in private facilities versus Shs617,440 in public facilities.
Reports also indicate that diabetes killed 3.4 million people in 2024, and about 81 percent of adults with diabetes live in developing countries. Globally, countries spend more than $1.3 trillion on diabetes annually. The entire world has about 500 million diabetic patients.
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) also indicates that about 716,000 Ugandans were living with diabetes, with the main causes being increased consumption of sugary and processed foods, as well as reduced physical activity.
A 2023 study found that many cancer patients experienced ‘catastrophic health expenditure,’ with five out of 10 spending at least 40 percent of their household income on cancer care. Some patients at the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) report spending an average of Shs300,000 per visit, primarily on missing drugs, tests, and scans.
Records from the UCI show that approximately 77,028 people lived with cancer in Uganda, on average, over a recent five-year period (2017-2022), with around 35,968 new cases diagnosed and 24,629 deaths occurring annually.
Ssenfuka, 42, says he got his first breakthrough in 2013 while going about his work in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. His friend, Mustafa Ibrahim, a Pakistani national, complained of constant hunger, even immediately after a meal.
‘I had seen my late grandmother Leonia Nakiwala Namuganga, who was a traditional healer, prescribing for her patients who had the same problem. We at the time couldn’t fathom the ailment, but I offered to help my friend Ibrahim,’ he says, adding: ‘Both my child and wife, Jane Ssenfuka, live in Dubai. I had to decide to leave them there and returned to Uganda in 2013 to continue with the research.’