Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Corp

Founding and acquisitions

According to the company website, the legacy company behind Aspen Holdings was founded in 1850 by Berry Grey Lennon, an Irish chemist, who opened a drug store in Gqeberha, South Africa. In 1898, B.G. Lennon & Co. established itself as Lennon Lt, and by 1930 it was the largest pharmaceutical company in the southern hemisphere. Mergers continued throughout the 1950's and 1960's. Lennon was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1968, and in 1975 it started a research and development department to develop and register generic drugs. Separate from Lennon, the originating Aspen company was founded in 1997 by South African businesspeople Stephen Saad, Gus Attridge, and Steve Sturlese, as well as a fourth shareholder. The business was initially located in Durban, South Africa. With backing from Investec, Aspen listed on the JSE in 1998. Aspen purchased South African Druggists in 1999, the oldest pharmaceutical business in South Africa, for R2.4 billion in a hostile take over. SAD still owned a large manufacturing facility in Gqeberha and the Lennon home remedies brand.With Saad serving as chief executive and Attridge as deputy chief executive, co-founder Steve Sturlese left the company in 2001, and that year Aspen expanded into Australia. Also in 2001, Saad negotiated the "first-ever voluntary" licenses to manufacture generic versions of antiretrovirals to treat HIV, ending a "stand off" between the South African government and various multinational drug companies over anticompetitive activities. Also, in 2001, GlaxoSmithKline granted Aspen the right to manufacture low-cost generics of three of its ARVs. By 2003, Aspen was the largest generic medicine distributor in South Africa. In August 2003, Aspen launched Aspen Stavudine - its first generic ARV drug, building an Oral Solid Dosage drug facility in Gqeberha to produce what was Africa's first generic antiretroviral. Aspen's efforts led to expanded access to affordable treatments for HIV/AIDS. In 2003, Boehringer Ingelheim granted Aspen licenses to create generic ARVs for use in the Sub-Saharan portion of Africa.

International expansion

Aspen acquired Fine Chemicals Corporation in Cape Town, South Africa in 2004, which was the only producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients in South Africa. Also in 2004 it acquired Infacare from Royal Numico. In 2005, Aspen was granted a license by Merck & Co. to produce efavirenz and by 2005 Aspen was the largest supplier of ARVs in Africa. In 2007, Aspen announced it would expand into Latin America in partnership with Strides Pharma Science Limited. At the time, Aspen had operations in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, India, Kenya, and Tanzania. In 2009, Aspen purchased the rights to market Melphalan and several other cancer drugs from GSK, such as levothyroxine, azathioprine, digoxin and allopurinol. As part of the transaction, GSK purchased 16% of Aspen's shares for £268 million, while Aspen acquired GSK's manufacturing site in Bad Oldesloe, Germany and the rights to market and distribute GSK's pharmaceutical products in South Africa. Finalized in 2011, in late 2010, Aspen announced it would acquire the Australian company Sigma Pharma for US$1.24 billion.In 2013 Aspen expanded in Africa by opening businesses in Nigeria, and around that time, also purchased 60% of the company Shelys, which had businesses in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. That year the company continued to expand globally and began promoting its products in Russia, also investing US$215 million in the licenses for various Nestle SA infant nutritional products in Australia, Southern Africa, and Latin America. In 2013, Aspen announced it would acquire drug brands from MSD and an active pharmaceutical ingredient company in the Netherlands as well as anticoagulant rights. It had expanded into 21 countries in 2014, and built new global headquarters. In 2016 it bought intellectual property and manufacturing rights for Astra Zeneca's anaesthetics, and GSK sold its stake in Aspen in October 2016. In mid-2016, Aspen was unable to supply Thyrax in the Netherlands due to changing production locations, with the shortage later extended into 2017. Affected patients were forced to switch medications in the interim and it was reported that 30% risked experiencing side-effects, with a dose-equivalent switch from Thyrax to other LT4 brands induced overdosing in 24-63% of patients.Since 2018 the company admits a "commercial focus on specialised therapies", i.e. specialty drugs. In August 2018, Aspen stated it was the world's largest anesthetics company outside of the United States. Also in 2018, Aspen announced plans for a new US$80 million manufacturing facility in Gqeberha for late stage cancer drugs. That year Aspen sold its infant nutritional business to Lactalis for US$865 million, and in 2019, it sold its Japanese generics unit to Novartis. In May 2019, Mylan purchased a portfolio of products from Aspen in Australia. In 2020, Aspen also sold the intellectual property and commercialization rights of its European thrombosis business to Mylan.

Corporate developments, new products

In 2020, Aspen focused on meeting a demand for dexamethasone pills, a steroid used on extremely ill patients in the COVID-19 pandemic. Also in 2020, Aspen opened a US$80 million high-containment facility in Gqeberha, and announced a further US$160 million to be spent on two additional sterile plants, "paving the way for a push into vaccines." Aspen Pharmacare has been involved in the manufacturing of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, in that it was responsible for "fill and finish" of Janssen COVID-19 vaccine stock made elsewhere. In February 2021 the South African government had signed a contract for 11 million doses of this vaccine and ordered another 20 million doses in April 2021. After worries that the vaccine fill stock made by an Emergent BioSolutions plant in Baltimore might have been contaminated, that year Aspen destroyed some of its doses. In August 2021, Aspen filled vaccine stock from a plant in the Netherlands, with 40% of those doses supposed to go to Europe and the remaining 60% to Africa through the end of September. Aspen agreed to sell several products, all of which were sold in South Africa, to the Swiss company Acino Pharma AG in October 2021. Gus Attridge retired at the end of 2021 and was replaced as chief financial officer by Sean Capazorio.By 2022, anticoagulants and anaesthetics made up 30% of Aspens business. In March 2022, Aspen concluded a licensing agreement with Johnson & Johnson to manufacture its own COVID-vaccine, to be named Aspenovax and sold in African countries. After no Aspenovax orders were placed during a backlog of vaccines in Africa in early 2022, in May 2022 Aspen stated it might repurpose the Gqeberha site's sterile production line by July for other products. Aspen concluded an agreement with the Serum Institute of India in August 2022 to manufacture, market and distribute four Aspen-branded routine vaccines for Africa.