Aspen’s R1bn shot in the arm for city

Aspen Pharmacare unveiled a new R1-billion high-containment facility in Port Elizabeth yesterday – where hundreds of new jobs have been created – and said an even bigger investment was under way.

The JSE-listed company said the high-containment facility and a sterile facility which is under construction would together create 500 jobs.

The pharmaceutical giant officially opened the facility at its Korsten site yesterday, where 220 new jobs have been created.

The next phase of investment – the multibillion-rand sterile facility – will create 280 jobs.

Aspen is also in the process of establishing a training facility where its employees will have the opportunity to attain national accredited qualifications in pharmaceutical manufacture.

Aspen Group chief executive Stephen Saad said the high-containment facility was one of a kind in South Africa.

“It’s a first for South Africa and part of only a few globally,” Saad said.

“It’s very expensive to build because you make very difficult products, and very important products.”

Initial production at the facility is planned for late-stage cancer drugs Alkeran, Leukeran and Purinethol, as well as Imuran, for the prevention of organ tissue rejection in liver and kidney transplants and treatment of certain autoimmune diseases, and Benztropine, used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.

Officiating at the opening, Trade and Industry Minister Dr Rob Davies said the investment would significantly strengthen the country’s capacity as a manufacturer of quality pharmaceutical products.

Aspen’s operations in the Eastern Cape employ more than 2 500 people, of which more than 2 000 work in Port Elizabeth.

Saad said the business, which had grown to become the country’s largest pharmaceutical company, started from humble beginnings in Durban before moving to Port Elizabeth.

“It is worth reflecting where Aspen has come from – a small regional startup in a two-bedroom house in Durban, to what it is today, probably one of South Africa’s most globalised multinational companies,” he said.

“Our evolution over the last 20 years has been a shift from a broad-based locally focused manufacturer of largely commodity generic products, into a globalised manufacturer of hi-tech, difficult to replicate, speciality products.

Saad said the Port Elizabeth plant was the best place to situate the new units.

“We’ve got a lot of infrastructure here, a lot of people with skills, IT systems, so to start from scratch elsewhere we might not have been able to achieve it.

“Our next investment – which will be our biggest one ever – will be in sterile manufacturing, to bring anaesthetics to Port Elizabeth,” he said.

“Construction is already under way and it’s by far our biggest investment that we will make.”

Asked about the estimated amount of the investment, Saad would only say “a couple of billion [rand]”.

Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip said the investment gave the municipality’s credit rating a significant boost. “It’s fantastic that the city’s credit rating has improved [because] that can only happen when people believe there’s economic stability and obviously the running of our finances in the city has led to that,” he said.

“I love that there was even some banter on who’s going to become the biggest employer in the city.

“We need to attract investment to address unemployment.”

Davies said the new facility would take the country to a new level in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

“The contribution of manufacturing in the pharmaceutical sector is about 0.84% of manufacturing GDP [gross domestic product], which is quite a small total,” Davies said.

“This high-containment facility, which produces high-potency pharmaceutical products, takes us to a new level in manufacturing in South Africa. It’s a significant investment.

“When the total of those investments come in, Aspen will become an employer second only to Volkswagen.

“More than 90% of the employees here come from Nelson Mandela Bay – and we are very happy to support this project and the remaining investments.

“Our department will stand with you and support you as much as we can,” he pledged.

The high-containment facility is about 23 000m² in size and is split into two levels.

At full capacity, level 1 will produce up to 3.2 billion tablets a year, with about three million bottles being packaged a month.

Level 2 will produce about 400 million tablets a year.