NEWS
Aspen: A never-ending success story?
Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen’s Senior Executive
Aspen Pharmacare’s decision to
push ahead with its global expansion
plans and the growing success of its
business operations both locally and
internationally despite the economic
downturn have again underscored
the company’s ability to recognise
opportunities and conclude deals that
have established it as a world leader in
the generics market.
Aspen’s Senior Executive, Stavros
Nicolaou, said that although SA is no
longer its biggest market, it remains
committed to keep its manufacturing
base here, thereby ensuring job
creation and capital inflow.
In the past few months, Aspen has
finalised several major international
deals to the tune of more than R19bn
- the latest being its acquisitions of
Glaxo SmithKline’s (GSK) injectable
thrombolytic brands and manufacturing
site in France, and MSD’s active
pharmaceutical ingredient (API)
“Only those who regard
healing
as the
ultimate
goal
of their efforts can,
therefore,
be designated as
physicians.”
- Rudolf Virchow
(Source Wikipedia)
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Y o u r c o n s u lti n g p a th o l o g i s ts
8 MEDICAL CHRONICLE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013
manufacturing business in the
Netherlands, and a portfolio of 11
branded finished dose molecules.
Now the ninth-biggest generic
company in the world with a presence
in more than 150 countries, these
deals will also give Aspen entry into
Russia and the Eastern European
countries - markets that are generally
considered to be difficult to enter.
“It is hard to globalise
pharmaceuticals but when you start
doing it, it is like wildfire if you have the
capacity, capability, the skills and the
people to do it,” said Nicolaou.
With its local turnover now
exceeding R7bn and the competition
legislation restrictions in the country,
space for organic growth in SA has
become very limited.
“So, to enable us to diversify, we
have geared our SA business to be
the manufacturing base that services
most of our offshore markets,”
Nicolaou said. Over the past three
years alone, this strategy has required
a R3bn investment in capital expansion
projects in SA with another R1.5bn to
be invested in the next three months in
the enhancement of its manufacturing
capabilities to cater for the growing
demand for its products.
Its business strategy is based
on four simple principles: Acquiring
brands and companies with strong
integrative synergies in multiple
markets; building credibility and trust
in the marketplace and in relationships
with multinationals; recognising
opportunities in emerging markets;
and building a track record of delivery.
In the GSK and MSD transactions,
the synergies created relate to
both companies’ involvement in
the manufacturing of injectable
antithrombolytics. One of the products
acquired through the MSD deal is
low molecular weight heparin, which
together with GSK’s Arixtra and
Fraxiparine/Fraxodi have established
Aspen as a leader in a disease field
that is expected to grow significantly
in the next few years as the burden
of lifestyle diseases increases in
emerging markets, said Nicolaou.
“So, the chances are good that other
manufacturers of antithrombolytic
agents would consider approaching Aspen for future collaboration,” he added.
The seeming ease with which Aspen
managed to conclude major deals with
multinationals could be ascribed to its
collaborative approach.
The bottom-line, said Nicolaou, is to
see the opportunities in any economic
climate.
“When it is bad, businesses tend
to become conservative and wary of
investment. So if you are alert, you can
pick up the deals. Further expansion
can never be ruled out.”