Subject to approval from relevant Competition Authorities, Lilly will enter a strategic agreement with Aspen to continue serving patients and bring innovative therapies to South Africa and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Johannesburg – In an effort to improve the reach and expand the access of its innovative portfolio of medicines to the patients who need them in South Africa and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa (SASSA), Eli Lilly Export S.A. (NYSE: LLY) (“Lilly”) will enter into a distribution and promotion agreement with Aspen Pharmacare and Beta Healthcare, both subsidiaries of Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited (JSE: APN) (“Aspen”), subject to approval by the relevant Competition Authorities. Through this agreement, Aspen will hold the rights to sell, promote and distribute Lilly’s pharmaceutical portfolio in SASSA.
Stephen Saad, Aspen Group Chief Executive, said, “Aspen has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Lilly over two decades, and we are delighted to enter into this agreement with them. We are honored that, not only have our commercial and regulatory capabilities been recognized, but also our dedication to ensuring broad access to African patients in need of cutting-edge medication. Lilly has an impressive portfolio coupled with a very strong pipeline, both of which strongly support this objective. We have confidence in our team’s ability to deliver to all stakeholders on the opportunity presented.”
Cesar Buendia, General Manager for Lilly SASSA said, “Lilly has proudly served patients and healthcare professionals through innovative, high-quality medicines in diverse therapeutic areas in South Africa and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa. The agreement with Aspen offers remarkable potential to reach more patients and expand access to Lilly’s medicines. Lilly remains committed to delivering our breakthrough innovations to patients in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, and we will continue to pursue initiatives as part of Lilly’s 30×30 program, which aims to improve access to quality healthcare for 30 million people living in limited-resource settings, annually, by 2030.”
Until approval is received from the competition authorities, Lilly will continue to operate as per its existing business model for all its products.
