South African billionaire Stephen Saad’s Aspen could cut COVID-19 vaccine capacity

Africa’s largest drug manufacturer, Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, has revealed plans to switch about half of its COVID-19 vaccine production capacity onto other products if demand doesn’t pick up within six weeks.

Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Limited is a South African multinational holding company founded 25 years ago by South African pharma tycoon and billionaire businessman Stephen Saad. The billionaire businessman controls a 12.5-percent stake worth $550 million in the drug company.

The latest development comes several months after Aspen reached an agreement with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to develop and distribute an Aspen-branded COVID-19 vaccine throughout Africa, prompting South Africa’s president and health officials to urge more Africans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Similarly, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged anyone purchasing COVID-19 vaccines for the continent to do so through South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare, citing the market as critical to the development of vaccine manufacturing on the continent.

In response to the lack of demand for Aspenovax, the Aspen-branded COVID-19 vaccine, Saad stated that there is no point in maintaining capacity when demand is non-existent.

“We will sit and wait for four to six weeks to hear where these multilateral organizations, the region, and the world bodies stand in terms of actual support for Aspen and African production,” he said. “However, we must look ahead and re-purpose what we’re doing.”

As Africa’s largest pharmaceutical company, Aspen has the capacity to produce about 1 million vaccine doses per day, thanks to a strategic partnership with J&J.

With a nameplate capacity of one million doses per day, roughly half of this capacity is being used to fulfill a supply agreement with J&J, while the remaining capacity, which was expected to produce Aspenovax shots for the African market, is presently idle.