Aspen and Adcock win South Africa preference tender

South Africa’s Department of Health last week awarded its first oral solid dosage (OSD) tender aligned with the government's latest industrial policy which gives preference to local manufacturers, boosting business for some of SA's biggest drugmakers.

The award was worth a total of 2.55 billion rand ($313 million) oral solids tender, the state's second-biggest medicines contract after HIV/AIDS drugs. Aspen Pharmacare said it won 634 million rand of the two-year tender, or 25% of the contract, while Adcock Ingram said it had won 270 million rand worth of business.

“Adcock Ingram has built significant manufacturing and distribution capacity throughout its facilities. It is critical that we compete aggressively for contracts that will ensure that we have a consistent demand for the billions of tablets and capsules that we produce”, said the firm’s chief executive Jonathan Louw, adding: “Local manufacturers had the delicate task of balancing the cost of manufacturing whilst offering government competitive pricing, and I believe we have done that successfully.”