A contract to produce and sell four Aspen-branded vaccines for Africa has been inked between the Serum Institute of India and Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, a branded pharmaceutical company run by South African billionaire businessman Stephen Saad.
The strategic collaboration deal, which was announced as Aspen reported a 35-percent increase in its profit exceeding R6.4 billion ($373.2 million) at the end of its 2022 fiscal year, will allow the Serum Institute of India to use its nearly idle COVID-19 vaccine production lines in South Africa.
The agreement provides Aspen with a guaranteed pipeline of vaccine orders for years to come, as well as volume certainty, which will eventually more than make up for an anticipated drop in earnings from its COVID-19 vaccination contract with U.S. pharmaceutical juggernaut Johnson & Johnson (J&J).
Saad, CEO and founder of Aspen Pharmacare, said it will take at least a year to start producing new vaccines under the new deal.
Until then, Aspen will continue trying to get orders for its branded COVID-19 vaccines, which have not yet received orders despite Aspen having the legal right to market the finished vaccines in African public-sector markets under the Aspen brand.
Aspen will produce hexavalent, pneumococcal, polyvalent meningococcal, and rotavirus vaccines, all of which are widely used in Africa, as per the conditions of the most recent agreement with Serum.
The two companies might also talk about extending the deal to cover new goods.
Aspen Pharmacare is a multinational holding company founded 25 years ago by Saad, a billionaire businessman and South African pharma tycoon. He owns a 12.5-percent stake in the company worth $566 million.
In an effort to increase its capacity for producing vaccines, the pharmaceutical company signed a strategic partnership agreement with Siemens South Africa earlier this year.
The agreement aims to boost the pharmaceutical industry’s competitiveness and strengthen the continent’s resistance to other diseases and upcoming pandemics.
In response to the lack of demand for Aspenovax, the Aspen-branded COVID-19 vaccine, Aspen revealed plans to switch about half of its COVID-19 vaccine production capacity to other products if demand doesn’t pick up within six weeks.
