Aspen Pharmacare
active pharmaceutical ingredients | |
Revenue | R 40,709,000,000 (FY 2023)[1][2] |
---|---|
R 16,811,000,000 (FY 2023)[1][3] | |
Total assets | R 134,284,000,000 (FY 2023)[1][4][3] |
Total equity | R 86,236,000,000 (FY 2023)[1][5][3] |
Owner | JSE listed |
Number of employees | 9,100[6] |
Website | www |
Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited is a
History
Founding and acquisitions (1997-2003)
According to the company website, the legacy company behind Aspen Holdings was founded in 1850 by Berry Grey Lennon, an Irish chemist, who opened a drug store in
With Saad serving as chief executive and Attridge as deputy chief executive, co-founder Steve Sturlese left the company in 2001,
International expansion (2004-2019)
Aspen acquired Fine Chemicals Corporation in
In 2013 Aspen expanded in Africa by opening businesses in Nigeria, and around that time, also purchased 60% of the company Shelys, which had businesses in
Since 2018 the company admits a "commercial focus on specialised therapies", i.e.
Corporate developments, new products (2020-2023)
In 2020, Aspen focused on meeting a demand for
By 2022, anticoagulants and anaesthetics made up 30% of Aspen's business.[52] In March 2022, Aspen concluded a licensing agreement with Johnson & Johnson to manufacture its own COVID-vaccine, to be named Aspenovax and sold in African countries.[53] After no Aspenovax orders were placed during a backlog of vaccines in Africa in early 2022, in May 2022 Aspen stated it might repurpose the Gqeberha site's sterile production line by July for other products.[19] Aspen concluded an agreement with Serum Institute of India in August 2022 to manufacture, market and distribute four Aspen-branded routine vaccines for Africa,[54] and received grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.[55]
In December 2023, Aspen Pharmacare acquired Sandoz's Chinese business for up to €92.6 million.[56]
Operations
A global pharmaceutical company of
Pricing investigations
Aspen has been criticized for aggressively increasing the prices of generic drugs it sells,[59] leading to a number of investigations and fines.[59] In October 2016,[60][61] Aspen was fined $5.5 million[60][61] by the Italian Competition Authority for price hikes[59] initiated between 2012 and 2014[17] in respect to certain cancer drugs.[59] Aspen unsuccessfully[62] appealed the ruling,[59] arguing that while the hikes appeared large, they resulted from "a very low and unsustainable price base."[63] By 2016 Aspen was also being accused of the same practices, including artificially restricting supply, in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Brazil,[17] and South Africa.[64] In a British study, it was found that Aspen's Busulfan, a cancer treatment used by the British National Health Service, had undergone a price hike of 1,143% between 2011 and 2016.[17] Aspen argued to The Times that the price hikes had been at "levels appropriate to promote long-term sustainable supply to patients" while also arguing that shortages of cancer medicines had not been deliberate, but tied to temporary manufacturing limitations.[65]
In October 2017, the South African Competition Commission dropped its investigation into Aspen's pricing of various cancer medicines after determining "an excessive pricing case could not be sustained against them."[64] That year, The Guardian noted that Aspen's share value had risen significantly during the period when the price increases had been implemented, and that GSK had profitably sold its Aspen shares in three tranches.[17] Aspen responded that the "oncology portfolio in question" had not been responsible for the majority of its generated revenue during that time,[66] with The Times noting that the drugs generated "just 2.7%" of Aspen's R35.6-billion revenue in 2016.[67] After an investigation by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority into arrangements Aspen made regarding the UK market for Fludrocortisone, Aspen agreed to pay the National Health Service £8 million in 2019.[68]
After a three year investigation[69] into Aspen's pricing of generic cancer drugs,[59][70] in July 2020 the European Commission announced that Aspen had committed to a price reduction on six cancer drugs of 73% for over 10 years,[71][69] while guaranteeing supply over at least 5 years to the European Economic Area sans Italy.[69] The investigation was conducted due to rising prices for five drugs (chlorambucil, melphalan, mercaptopurine, tioguanine and busulfan).[72] The commission found that from 2012 to 2019, Aspen had in the EEA persistently earned high profits with its average prices "exceeding costs by almost 300%" for products that had been off-patent for about 50 year. In order to prevent any further abuse of a dominant position, if Aspen intended to discontinue its supplies, the company must inform any concerned member states at least one year in advance, as well as making EU marketing authorizations for the products available for any interested third party to acquire.[71] While Aspen had disagreed with the commission's preliminary assessment, the company "proposed commitments to the commission that would be satisfactory to all the parties involved" to address competition concerns. In February 2021, the 73% price reduction was agreed upon as binding. No fines were levied.[69]
See also
- List of pharmaceutical companies
- List of companies of South Africa
- List of companies traded on the JSE
- COVID-19 vaccination in Africa
References
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- ^ a b c d https://www.aspenpharma.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Aspen-Results-Booklet_YE-June-2022.pdf
- ^ https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/ZA/XJSE/APN/financials/annual/balance-sheet
- ^ https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/ZA/XJSE/APN/financials
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- ^ a b "Report about the effects on patients that had to switch from thyrax" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
- ^ https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/fabrikant-verhuist-pillen-niet-leverbaar~bb60dd33/?referrer=https://www.google.com/
- S2CID 213180806.(subscription required)
- PMID 30374426
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- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
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- ^ a b Ed Silverman: Drug maker fined for shorting supplies of cancer drugs in order to raise prices, STAT News, 17 October 2016
- ^ a b Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato. Ruling of the session on September 29, 2016, 2016
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