Aspen's offer for GSK's thrombosis drugs

Aspen Pharmacare supplies medicines to more than 150 countries and has been consistently acquiring brands to expand its portfolio. Its strategy of acquiring the intellectual property of the medicines it sells is diametrically opposed to that of local rival Adcock Ingram‚ which has put its energy into obtaining manufacturing licences from other drug makers.

"In my view‚ it's the only approach‚" said Macquarie First analyst Aadil Omar. "In the licence approach the margins are quite thin and you never end up owning the intellectual property. You are a third party and the most you can hope for is manufacturing and distribution but more often than not you are given one or the other. If you acquire the product you have won the rights to manufacture and sell it‚" he said.

Aspen Pharmacare was one of only a handful of South African companies that had succeeded in clinching these kinds of acquisitions‚ he said. "Stephen Saad and (deputy CEO) Gus Attridge are astute deal makers. It's not anyone who can do this. Bidvest and MTN are among the few others‚" he said.

Aspen Pharmacare issued a cautionary on Tuesday (18 June) for its plans to acquire Arixtra and Fraxiparine‚ just a week after it renewed its cautionary for its offer to buy MSD's Dutch manufacturing plant for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for an undisclosed amount.

Niche products

The Oss plant makes over 50 different API's‚ including drugs for women's health‚ haematology‚ endocrinology‚ anaesthesia‚ and psychiatry. It also makes heparin‚ a key ingredient Fraxiparine. The two deals together would strengthen Aspen's product portfolio‚ and give it a strong presence in the thrombosis market.

"Strategically‚ its always been our desire to have niche products that would help increase our global presence. These products fit very neatly with this‚" said Aspen Pharmacare's chief executive Stephen Saad in a telephone interview.

"We will get 400 more hospital representatives across Western and Central Europe‚ Russia and the former Soviet Union‚" he said.

"Arixtra and Fraxiparine generated £420m in revenue for GlaxoSmithKline for the financial year to December but were likely to generate less for Aspen in the future because Arixtra had recently come off patent in the US and now faced generic competition‚" said Saad. "Fraxiparine is a biologic medicine‚ and there were no rival bio-similars‚" he said.

GlaxoSmithKline is the UK's biggest drugmaker and owns 18.6% of Aspen. It said in a statement on its website that it had received an offer from Aspen to buy its Notre-Dame de Bondeville site. "The proposed transaction is aligned to GlaxoSmithKline's strategy of focusing on products with the most growth potential and the delivery of its pipeline‚" it said. The proposed deal excludes the sale of the thrombosis drugs in Pakistan‚ China and India.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge