By Nqobile Dludla
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Aspen Pharmacare expects African sales of Eli Lilly’s blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drug Mounjaro to exceed 2 billion rand ($124 million) in its current financial year, buoyed by surging demand in South Africa and planned launches in Nigeria and Kenya.
The South African company is Lilly’s official distributor of Mounjaro in sub-Saharan Africa.
A day after reporting annual results, Chief Executive Stephen Saad told investors on Thursday that Aspen had submitted Mounjaro for registration in Kenya and Nigeria, with both markets having the potential to contribute to earnings in its current financial year to end-June if approved.
“We’re hoping to do more than 2 billion rand in sales in financial year 2027,” Saad said about Mounjaro. He had previously forecast over 1.3 billion rand in sales for the year to end-June 2026, although the company has not disclosed its actual sales figure.
South Africa’s GLP-1 market nearly doubled in value to 2.8 billion rand over the year to June, driven largely by soaring demand for Mounjaro. The drug, launched late in 2024, increased its share of the market to a dominant 53% from 15% a year earlier, Saad said.
BEYOND MOUNJARO
Africa’s biggest pharmaceuticals company is also advancing plans to launch a generic version of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic in selected markets once patents expire, having secured two registrations in Canada and filed applications across several emerging markets.
The timing of Aspen’s commercial launch in Canada remains dependent on the availability of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) from India’s Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, which halted production of new batches in July because of an impurity issue.
Saad said Aspen expected greater clarity on the supply arrangement before the end of the month.
A different API supplier will be used in Brazil, which is among the markets where registration progress is being made, Saad said.
($1 = 16.0681 rand)
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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