Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, a renowned pharmaceutical company led by South African billionaire businessman Stephen Saad, is set to breathe new life into its idle COVID-19 vaccine production lines through upcoming deals.
A recent report by Reuters reveals that the company is on the brink of signing four partnerships that could potentially revive these production lines, which have been unproductive and generating no revenue.
Aspen Pharmacare’s recent move has caused its shares to surge by more than 15 percent since the start of the week.
This development follows the company’s agreement, over three months ago, to receive $30 million in funding from the Gates Foundation and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to make vaccines more affordable in Africa.
Initially, the South African pharmaceutical company had planned to redirect half of its COVID-19 vaccine production capacity to other products if demand failed to pick up.
However, it now looks to revamp its underperforming facility, which has the capacity to produce up to 1 million vaccine doses per day, through new deals.
Aspen CEO Stephen Saad acknowledged that the group’s investment in its COVID-19 vaccine production lines was commercially disappointing. However, he remained optimistic and revealed that new partnerships were in the works to revive the production lines and generate returns.
“You can’t sit and cry in the past, we found another plan and that plan is going to deliver more than we ever could have hoped for under COVID,” Saad said. He also stated that the company is in advanced discussions with four multinational firms to produce other vaccines or biologics, which are medicines made from living organisms, further expanding the company’s product range.
Saad provided further details on the expected revenue boost from these partnerships, stating that Aspen anticipates a contribution of R2 billion ($110.22 million) in 2024, with this figure set to double to R4 billion ($220 million) by 2025 as a result of the partnerships.
