Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - July 18, 2004
Adele Shevel
Powerful growth in the generic drugs market will be reflected in the annual results of Aspen Pharmacare next month.
The company, South Africa's largest generic drugs manufacturer, says its earnings for the year ended June will be "materially higher" than those of the previous year - this means between 10% and 30% up.
South Africa has the third highest utilisation of generic drugs in the world after the UK and Germany, according to the World Generic Market Report 2003.
Aspen says its new R150-million plant in Port Elizabeth will enable the company to double the annual output to more than five billion units of generic drugs.
This week the Competition Commission conditionally approved the R270-million purchase by Aspen of Fine Chemicals, a firm that makes the raw materials of many medicines in table form.
The acquisition gives Aspen more control of its production chain and allows it to manufacture "active pharmaceutical ingredients".
The growth of the top 10 generic drug companies has outpaced the growth of innovative, research-based drugs over the past year.
Earlier this month Sanofi-Synthelabo, one of the world's biggest pharmaceutical groups, launched its own generics medicines company in South Africa, Irex Pharmaceutical.
Jez Moulding, Sanofi-Synthelabo's general manager in South Africa, says the trend to generics will accelerate "because of the economic pressures on managed healthcare groups and individuals, and in response to a legislative framework that is seeking to drive down costs and widen access to healthcare".
Legislative initiatives include mandatory suggestion of generic substitutions, and capped charges on pharmacist services.
Moulding says generics make up 80% of pharmaceutical use in the public sector.
As patents of branded drugs expire, so the opportunity for generics grows.
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