Aspen join forces with Siemens to enhance vaccine production for Africa

A strategic partnership that will enable South Africa’s largest drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare (JSE: APN) to increase production capacity to meet the rising demands for COVID-19 vaccines in Africa was announced today.

Co-financed by funds from the develoPPP program of the German government, digital technologies will enable faster and more efficient production while ensuring consistent product quality.

In a joint project, Siemens South Africa, Aspen SA Operations, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aspen Pharmacare Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) have entered into an agreement to enable the use of digital technologies to enhance the efficiency of COVID vaccine production on the African continent, through Aspen’s Gqeberha-based manufacturing facility.

The project will strengthen the global competitiveness of the South African pharmaceutical industry and improve the continent’s resilience against other diseases and future pandemics. Against this background, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has commissioned DEG to finance the establishment of home-grown vaccine manufacturing capacities. South Africa is the most advanced pharmaceutical market on the continent with Aspen being Africa’s leading pharmaceutical manufacturer.

In the process of licensing Aspenovax