South African listed pharmaceutical group Aspen Pharmacare — southern Africa’s largest generics manufacturer — on Wednesday launched Aspen-Stavudine, the first generic anti-retroviral (ARV) drug developed and manufactured in Africa.
Stephen Saad, Aspen Pharmacare Group Chief Executive Officer said: “Aspen-Stavudine is the first locally developed and manufactured generic ARV which presents a solution to what is largely an African problem. This initial ARV demonstrates Aspen’s commitment to healthcare in southern African and underlines the scientific and manufacturing capabilities that exist within the country at Aspen’s Port Elizabeth based facilities.”
The drug fulfils the critical initial step in the company’s approach toward providing quality, affordable generic ARVs for millions of HIV/Aids sufferers. The product will form one element of a multi-faceted solution to containing the pandemic, the others include appropriate nutrition, education, prophylaxis and other measures undertaken in government’s integrated HIV/Aids strategy, Saad said.
Aspen will sell Stavudine within the range recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), with Aspen’s pricing being competitive with major Asian suppliers reported on by the WHO.
Saad said Aspen’s pipeline of ARVs should be bolstered shortly by the addition of generics for Didanosine, Combivir, AZT, 3TC and nevirapine which have been submitted to the Medicine Control Council (MCC) for registration. Once registered, Aspen anticipates selling a cocktail therapy of ARVs at below $1 per day.
These additional licenses were made available to Aspen through license agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim. As a result of these licenses, Aspen infringes no patents and has complied with all World Trade Organisation rules and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , General Agreement on Trade in Services and Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights agreements.
At 1424 on the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa, Aspen’s share price was up 3,57%, or 30 cents, to 870 cents. – I-Net Bridge