Aspen Holdings, through its wholly owned subsidiary Aspen Global Incorporated, has entered into binding agreements for the 100% sale of Aspen Asia Pacific (excluding China) for R26.5 billion.
Durban, South Africa – JSE-listed Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited, a global multinational specialty pharmaceutical company, has announced that Aspen Global Incorporated (“AGI”), its wholly owned subsidiary incorporated in Mauritius, has concluded two interdependent agreements with Sandoz AG (“Sandoz”) concerning the acquisition of Sandoz’s Chinese business and the disposal to Sandoz of four anaesthetic products in Europe. The terms of the agreements provide for AGI to: Stephen Saad, Aspen Group Chief Executive, said, “The acquisition represents an attractive opportunity for Aspen to take a major step in our stated strategic objective of increasing our presence in China. Sandoz’s product portfolio, pipeline, well-established infrastructure, and experienced team, will expand Aspen’s footprint and capabilities in the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market, and further strengthen our foundation for future growth in China.” The Acquisition provides the opportunity to add approximately ZAR 1.8 billion of annual sales to the Aspen Group, while the sales of the Anaesthetic Products during our financial year ended 30 June 2023 were approximately ZAR 280 million. As consideration for the Acquisition, AGI is paying up to EUR 92.6 million, with EUR 18.5 million contingent upon the sales performance of the Pipeline Products. For the Disposal, AGI will receive a consideration of up to EUR 55.5 million, with EUR 9.3 million contingent on the sales performance of the Anaesthetic Products. AGI will fund the net upfront cash consideration from existing debt facilities.
Aspen announces contract manufacturing agreement to initiate local production of Human Insulin for Novo Nordisk at its Gqeberha based sterile manufacturing facility Durban, South Africa – Aspen is pleased to announce further details on one of the contract manufacturing agreements mentioned in its recent announcement of financial results for the year ended 30 June 2023 and related investor presentation. Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited and its wholly-owned South African subsidiary, Aspen SA Operations (Pty) Ltd have concluded an agreement with the leading global manufacturer of human insulin, Novo Nordisk A/S (“Novo Nordisk”), for the technical transfer and commercial manufacture of Human Insulins. The collaboration allows for local production of Human Insulin in South Africa, to cater to the needs of people with diabetes on the African continent. Through the local conversion of the insulin into finished dose form vials by Aspen, the companies will leverage opportunities together, to ensure a reliable supply of products to populations that need it. The collaboration aims to supply over 1 million patients (16 million vials) in 2024 with further upscaling to over 4 million patients in 2026. Aspen will manufacture these vials at its existing sterile facility in Gqeberha, South Africa. The Group invested R6 billion in building these facilities and related technologies. The production of insulin will utilize the sterile infrastructure including some utilized for COVID-19 vaccine production. Aspen will deploy approximately 250 people for this production which is due to commence at the beginning of 2024. The collaboration will also reduce the transport related carbon footprint by 68%. Stephen Saad, Aspen Group Chief Executive said, “Aspen has a clear objective and focus to capacitate Africa and give quality affordable access to critical medicines from sites based in Africa that are also capable of exporting to global markets. We are proud to be associated and working with Novo Nordisk, a global leader in many areas including diabetic insulins. We hope to build off this initial foundation with Novo Nordisk to further expand access. In addition, this development is important to retaining critical skills and developing new talent on the continent and to diversifying global supply chains to ensure security of supply and improved patient access. To this end, the technical and skills transfer agreement is key and an endorsement of Africa’s role in the regional and global pharmaceutical supply chain. We thank Novo Nordisk for this demonstration of their confidence in Aspen, together we can positively impact the millions of patients most in need.”
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.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Aspen Healthcare FZ LLC (“Aspen Healthcare”), a subsidiary of Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited (“Aspen”), a global specialty and branded multinational pharmaceutical company, has entered into a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) with Saudi Chemical Company Holding (“SCCH”), a well-known company in the local market of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and its subsidiary AJA Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (“AJA Pharma”), a recognized manufacturer of pharmaceutical products. In terms of this MOU, Aspen, SCCH and AJA Pharma will further expand their existing partnership to strategically collaborate on an extended portfolio of products, the manufacturing of products in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the export of products to existing Aspen markets. Daniel Vella Friggieri, Aspen Healthcare Regional CEO for Middle East, North Africa & Turkey, said, “We are excited to announce our strategic collaboration with Saudi Chemical Company Holding and its subsidiary AJA Pharma. This agreement endorses Aspen’s continuous commitment to align with the Kingdom’s 2030 vision and our drive to provide high quality healthcare products to patients in the Kingdom, the Middle East region and beyond”. Thamer Almuhid, Saudi Chemical Company Holding Group CEO commented, “Nowadays technology and globalization play a more important role than ever; having a strategic partnership between Aspen and AJA Pharma will ensure that both the aspects of technologies and global market access are fulfilled towards achieving the KSA 2030 vision. We are pleased to partner with a trusted partner like Aspen and look forward to a prosperous strategic partnership”.
New funding supports technology transfer from Serum Institute to Aspen to manufacture routine vaccines in Africa, for Africa Collaboration supports sustainable manufacturing capacity for African-produced vaccines for future epidemics and pandemics Durban, South Africa – JSE Limited listed Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited (“Aspen”) a global multinational specialty pharmaceutical company, announced that it will receive USD30 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (”the Gates Foundation”) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (“CEPI”) to support its capabilities to manufacture lifesaving routine and outbreak vaccines for Africa. The new funding from CEPI and the Gates Foundation, which includes USD15 million from each organization, will support a ten-year agreement between Aspen and Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd (“Serum Institute”) that aims to expand the supply and sourcing of affordable vaccines manufactured in Africa. Through the partnership with Serum Institute, Aspen will manufacture and distribute four routine vaccines in Africa — Pneumococcal, Rotavirus, Polyvalent Meningococcal, and Hexavalent — with technology transfer activities initiating in early 2023. In addition to supporting the technology transfer of these routine vaccines, the funding from CEPI and the Gates Foundation will help sustain regional vaccine manufacturing capacity at Aspen for potential future outbreak response, with the intention of securing early access to African-produced vaccines in the event of a future public health emergency. Stephen Saad, Aspen Group Chief Executive, said, “We thank both CEPI and the Gates Foundation for their commitment to support regional manufacture for Africa. Their commitment, together with our partnership with Serum, is an important first step in ensuring expanded and enduring equitable access to a pipeline of medicines and vaccines manufactured in Africa for Africans. Aspen has a proven capability of being at the forefront of pandemic preparedness for the Continent – from ARVs to COVID vaccines. This support will ensure we can continue to invest and expand our capacities, secure in the knowledge of future offtakes.” Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Acting Director Africa CDC said, “Africa CDC welcomes and wishes to congratulate Aspen, the Gates Foundation and CEPI on the conclusion of their respective agreements. These landmark agreements are a demonstration of Africa’s, and in this instance, Aspen’s ambition to further enhance Africa’s vaccine localisation efforts, its intention to diversify the pipeline for Africa-specific vaccines and to improve Africa’s ability to respond to pandemic outbreaks. All these are critical elements to establishing health security and security of supply on the African continent in line with the vision of our New Public Health Order.” “The urgent need to diversify vaccine manufacturing so every region can manage its own health security is one of the most significant learnings from the inequity of the COVID-19 pandemic response,” said Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI. “CEPI is working with our partners at Africa CDC to support the expansion of vaccine manufacturing on the continent, and our collaboration with Aspen, the Gates Foundation and Serum Institute will help to deliver a sustainable and resilient business model capable of both producing routine and outbreak vaccines in Africa, for Africa .” “Expanding the availability of affordable, high-quality vaccines that meet the needs of local communities is one of the best ways to improve health outcomes and reduce preventable deaths,” said Mark Suzman, Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We’re very pleased to support this agreement between Aspen and Serum Institute, which has the potential to expand vaccine production and supply in Africa, increase vaccination rates, improve pandemic preparedness, and broadly strengthen global health security.” Over the past two decades, the increased globalization of vaccine manufacturing has generated more reliable vaccine supplies at a lower cost, helping many countries around the world reach more people with lifesaving vaccines. In Africa, however, 99% of all vaccines administered are currently imported. Because lifesaving vaccines and treatments are not available or affordable everywhere, vaccine-preventable diseases continue to have a devastating impact on the region. Last year, African leaders, civil society, the private sector, and organizations such as the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control laid out a vision to expand regional manufacturing capacity, including an ambitious plan to produce 60% of the continent’s vaccines locally by 2040 and the launch of the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (“PAVM”), as well as a call for supranational funders and procurement agencies to source at least 30% of their requirements from African manufacturers.
Durban, South Africa – JSE Limited listed Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited (APN), a global multinational specialty pharmaceutical company, is pleased to announce that one of its wholly-owned South African subsidiaries, Aspen SA Operations (Pty) Limited (“Aspen SA Operations”), has concluded a ten-year agreement (“the Agreement”) with Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd (“the Serum Institute”), the world’s largest vaccine producer, for Aspen SA Operations to manufacture, market and distribute four Aspen-branded routine vaccines in Africa, excluding certain markets due to the Serum Institute having granted prior rights to third parties. The terms of Agreement for the vaccines, namely Pneumococcal Vaccine, Rotavirus Vaccine, Poly valent Meningococcal Vaccine and Hexavalent Vaccine (“the Products”), include a technical transfer and formulation, fill and finish arrangement which grants Aspen SA Operations the rights to: (i) manufacture the Products from bulk drug substance supplied by the Serum Institute; and (ii) make available the Products to markets in Africa by means of transactions with designated multilateral organisations, national governments of member states of the African Union (“AU”), and other public and private market customers. Under the Agreement, Aspen SA Operations has secured a license to the enabling know how from the Serum Institute and there is a good faith undertaking between the Parties to discuss the expansion of the Agreement to include new products or new versions of the Products. In addition to the Agreement, Aspen also anticipates receiving grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (”the Gates Foundation”) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (“CEPI”) to support African regional manufacturing capacity for the affordable supply of vaccines to, among others, African countries and Gavi / UNICEF, as well as contributing to pandemic preparedness through rights to a share of Aspen’s vaccine manufacturing capacity over a period of ten years. According to Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), currently less than 1% of vaccines used on the continent contain any local manufacture, yet through GAVI, UNICEF, COVAX and the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (“AVATT”), hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine are supplied to African countries to support both the Expanded Programme on Immunization (“EPI”), protecting children from a range of vaccine preventable diseases, as well as the provision of COVID-19 vaccines for the general population. Stephen Saad, Aspen Group Chief Executive said, “Africa has learnt from the experience of previous pandemics including HIV and now COVID, that regional capacities are fundamental to solving regional health challenges. The agreement concluded with the Serum Institute, and the anticipated grant funding from the Gates Foundation and CEPI, complement our previously stated commitment to expand sustainable and durable vaccine manufacturing on the continent to reduce Africa’s global vaccine dependency. We look forward to partnering with Adar and the Serum Institute. They are the largest manufacturers of vaccines globally and have a proven record of supporting universal healthcare. Aspen is now well-positioned as a first mover to contribute to Continental and, by implication, global health security through the provision of world-class, competitive and proven vaccine manufacturing capability and capacity.” The Products will be produced at Aspen’s manufacturing facility in Gqeberha which has accreditation from a range of stringent international regulatory authorities and provides medicines and vaccines to improve the health and quality of life of patients in both the domestic and international markets. Adar Poonawalla, The Serum Institute CEO, said “We are pleased to be partnering with Aspen and to support them in fulfilling their vaccine ambitions for Africa. We endorse their efforts to contribute towards reducing the Continent’s global vaccine dependency and we are confident that the Products will provide enhanced opportunities of wellbeing for all patients in Africa.” Mark Suzman, Chief Executive Officer, Gates Foundation, said, “Despite significant successes in expanding access to vaccines and reducing child mortality, the recent inequities exposed by the COVID pandemic have clearly highlighted the need to strengthen Africa’s capacity to manufacture its own life-saving vaccines. As a critical step to closing this gap we are proud to be able to provide financial and technical support to this new partnership between the Serum Institute of India and Aspen and look forward to working closely with them and other regional partners to expand the supply and sources of vaccines for African and global markets going forward. This is in line with our work over two decades with a range of partners, including GAVI and Serum, to help build a diversified ecosystem to develop, manufacture and distribute high-quality, low-cost vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.” Dr Richard Hatchett, CEPI Chief Executive Officer, added “CEPI’s partnership with Aspen, SII, and BMGF is an exciting step towards expanding vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa, for Africa. This partnership will enhance the region’s health security and represents an important step towards preventing the kind of gross inequities of access to lifesaving vaccines that emerged during the pandemic. “Manufacturers need sustainable and resilient business models between outbreaks, so their facilities and workforce can be ready to spring into action when needed during an epidemic or pandemic, and public sector investment will be key to unlocking this sustainability in Africa. We are proud to be part of an effort that will secure critically needed vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa, for Africa, so that it can be ready when it faces future epidemic or pandemic threats.” On 10 May 2022, The AU called for agencies responsible for bulk purchasing of vaccines to offtake at least 30% of all vaccines produced by Africa for global consumption. In Africa, 99% of all vaccines administered are currently imported. Enhancing access to medicines is at the forefront on Aspen’s ESG strategy. “Africa is a significant consumer of a range of vaccines and demand will grow further in the next decade, yet the vast bulk of those vaccines are sourced from outside the continent. The Covid pandemic laid bare Africa’s vulnerability when supplies are constrained globally. We therefore welcome the announcement of the partnership for the production of routine vaccines by Aspen,” said Mr Ebrahim Patel,
Durban – JSE listed company Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited (Aspen), a global multinational specialty pharmaceutical company, is positively positioned to respond as a third party for capacity fill opportunities following the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) declaration of monkeypox being a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). This declaration is the first since that announced by WHO for COVID-19 in January 2020. At the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic, Aspen was able to swiftly respond by making its extensive sterile formulation, fill and finish capabilities available in response to immediate surging demands. It would be in a position to step in and replicate this for Monkeypox should global circumstances and demands require this. Monkeypox was declared a PHEIC by WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference on 23 July 2022. The announcement was made given the rapid spread of the virus which has increased from 3 040 cases in 47 countries in June 2022 to more than 16 000 reported cases from 75 countries and territories, with five deaths reported. Stephen Saad, Aspen Group Chief Executive said, “Aspen has always been at the forefront of providing healthcare solutions for global pandemics, as we did with the launch of one of the first generic antiretrovirals for the treatment of HIV/Aids in August 2003. We also responded swiftly and decisively to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, initially through global contributions which we made with both our anaesthetics portfolio and dexamethasone supply. This action complemented our initiatives to build capacity and expertise to support global efforts and, in particular, address vaccine access inequality. This was achieved through partnership and licensing arrangements culminating in the potential to manufacture and supply the first and only locally finished COVID-19 vaccine, Aspenovax, in Africa for Africa.” “Aspen once again stands ready to support the global effort needed to contain the latest threat which monkeypox represents, and we are available to do so through collaborations that would utilise our world class sterile and vaccine manufacturing facilities.” Aspen has invested significantly in its sterile manufacturing site in Gqeberha, this being the single largest investment in the pharmaceutical industry in South Africa. The sterile facility, which was officially opened by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March 2021, contains high-technology, state-of-the-art pharmaceutical equipment and systems to manufacture advanced sterile medicines, including vaccines.
Shauneen Beukes
Group Communications Consultant
+27 31 580 8600
+27 82 389 8900
sbeukes@aspenpharma.com
Aspen Holdings
www.aspenpharma.com
Hotline (South Africa)
0800 122 912
Medical Careline (South Africa) 0800 118 088
Our career opportunities are across the corporate spectrum, including Human Capital, Digital Technology, Legal, and Risk & Sustainability. Our employees are given the opportunity to hone their skills and develop the experience of excellence in their chosen field in the pharmaceutical industry.