Aspen Pharmacare, a KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa-headquartered pharmaceutical company, is planning an additional 3.4 billion rand ($235 million) capital investment at its Port Elizabeth, South Africa-based manufacturing site for sterile anesthetics.

“While Aspen operates manufacturing plants in many geographies, it has chosen South Africa as the location for its largest and most critical manufacturing facilities,” Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen Senior Executive, said in an October 26, 2018 company announcement. “Aspen has become one of the global leaders in a number of niche, specialty therapeutic segments, such as anesthetic, high-potency and injectable anti-coagulant products, which present highly specialized public and private health opportunities. The ongoing investment in our Port Elizabeth site will transform it into one of the world’s leading global hubs for anesthetic products and will provide a tremendous economic boost for the Eastern Cape, one of the country’s most economically challenged provinces.”

In May 2018, Aspen opened a 1-billion rand ($80-million) high-containment drug-product manufacturing facility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. At the time of its opening, the company said the high-containment facility, together with the new Port Elizabeth sterile facility that was still being built at the time, would provide for some 500 additional jobs.

Aspen operates with an established business presence in approximately 50 countries and employs more than 10,000 people. The group operates 26 manufacturing facilities across 18 sites. Aspen’s manufacturing capabilities are scalable to demand and cover a range of product-types, including oral solid dose, liquids, semi-solids, steriles, biologicals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and infant nutritionals.

Source: Aspen Pharmacare