Aspen Pharmacare and Novo Nordisk pioneer local insulin production in Africa to tackle diabetes crisis

SOUTH AFRICA — Africa’s leading pharmaceutical company, Aspen Pharmacare, has entered into a groundbreaking agreement with Danish healthcare firm Novo Nordisk to establish South Africa’s first production facility for human insulin.

This strategic partnership aims to address the critical shortage of insulin in Africa, where over 80% of medicines are currently imported.

Novo Nordisk is following in the footsteps of its diabetes rival, Eli Lilly, by collaborating with Aspen Pharmacare to bolster insulin supplies on the continent.

This move is part of Novo’s “expanded commitment” to serve over 500,000 diabetes patients across sub-Saharan Africa, as announced in a press release.

Novo became Europe’s most valuable company earlier this month on booming sales of its obesity and type 2 diabetes drugs. It currently has a market capitalization of about US$420 billion.

Aspen will manufacture insulin vials at its state-of-the-art sterile facility in Gqeberha, South Africa, where it has invested approximately 6 billion South African rand (US$316 million) in recent years.

Notably, this facility was initially set up for COVID-19 vaccine production in partnership with Johnson & Johnson, although a lack of demand led to temporary idleness.

Under the terms of the Novo partnership, Aspen intends to produce a remarkable 16 million vials of insulin in 2024, enough to supply approximately 1.1 million patients annually. By 2026, Novo envisions Aspen’s capacity expanding to serve 4.1 million patients per year.

Crucially, the insulin produced by Aspen will be made available at an affordable cost to health authorities and non-governmental organizations through government tenders, with Novo Nordisk promising a price cap of just US$3 per insulin vial.

To facilitate this ambitious insulin production initiative, Aspen plans to deploy around 250 staff members, with production slated to commence at the start of 2024.

The scale of this endeavor is underpinned by alarming projections from Novo, indicating that over 60 million people worldwide will lack access to insulin by 2030.

Low- to middle-income countries, including Africa, are particularly vulnerable, with an estimated 24 million adults currently living with diabetes on the continent—an alarming figure set to surge to 55 million by 2045, according to Novo’s research.

At present, Africa is heavily reliant on importing more than 80% of its drugs, as reported by the World Health Organization.

In a similar move last December, Eli Lilly secured a licensing agreement with generics maker Eva Pharma of Egypt to bolster diabetes care in the region.

Eli Lilly also recently partnered with Aspen, granting the latter rights to sell, promote, and distribute Lilly’s pharmaceutical portfolio in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

For Aspen, the Novo supply contract signifies a promising development, considering the underutilization of its facilities due to a downturn in COVID-19 vaccine demand.

The company’s entry into the global spotlight was initially propelled by its collaboration with Johnson & Johnson to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines, but a lack of orders led to the need to repurpose production lines for anesthetics.

Despite these challenges, Aspen’s fortunes improved this summer as it secured agreements with three global drugmakers to produce medicines at its French facility.

The company had invested around 10 billion rand (US$541 million) in manufacturing sterile drugs in South Africa and France, anticipating COVID-19 vaccine demand.

Furthermore, Aspen recently inked an R775 million (US$40.9 million) deal to distribute sub-Saharan drugs manufactured by Eli Lilly.

While Eli Lilly retains drug manufacturing, Aspen takes over distribution and marketing responsibilities, including the diabetes-fighting medicine Tirzepatide, globally marketed as Mounjaro.

This strategic collaboration further positions Aspen as a key player in advancing healthcare access in the region.

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