South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare is gearing up to extend the reach of Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro— the tirzepatide-based injectable hailed for its dual efficacy in managing type 2 diabetes and chronic obesity—across sub-Saharan Africa in 2026. This ambitious foray builds on the drug’s robust reception since its South African debut in late 2024, where it has swiftly captured nearly 20 per cent market share in the burgeoning GLP-1 agonist category. According to Business Day, chief executive Stephen Saad outlined in the company’s annual shareholder letter that registrations are advancing in key regional territories, with launches slated to commence next year, leveraging Aspen’s entrenched distribution networks to address pressing non-communicable disease burdens.
The product’s meteoric ascent in South Africa, where the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority greenlit its weight management indication this month, has already buoyed half-year earnings to June 2025, fuelling projections of R1 billion in annual sales within a few years. Saad highlighted the collaboration with Eli Lilly as a linchpin, enabling Aspen to channel cutting-edge therapies into resource-constrained settings where obesity rates exceed 30 per cent in adults, per World Obesity Federation data, and diabetes afflicts over four million individuals. As reported by Reuters, the KwikPen delivery system—approved in September—streamlines self-administration, intensifying rivalry with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, which entered the local fray eight months later, and positioning Mounjaro to dominate a therapeutic arena forecasted to eclipse $100 billion globally by 2030.
Complementing this momentum, Aspen has inked a multi-year distribution pact with Boehringer Ingelheim, effective from September 2025, to amplify its prescription and over-the-counter offerings in South Africa. This alliance, which encompasses respiratory and cardiovascular portfolios, promises synergistic revenue streams, with early indicators suggesting a 10 per cent uptick in constant exchange rates for Aspen’s injectables segment, buoyed by a 45 per cent surge in Africa and the Middle East. Moneyweb notes that such partnerships underscore Aspen’s pivot towards high-margin specialties, offsetting broader headwinds while aligning with the African Continental Free Trade Area’s facilitation of intra-regional trade in essential medicines.
Yet this forward thrust occurs against a backdrop of profound turbulence in Aspen’s manufacturing arm, precipitated by the abrupt termination of a pivotal mRNA contract in April 2025. The ensuing dispute with an unnamed partner—tied to vaccine production technologies akin to those in Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 shots—has triggered impairments totalling R4.1 billion and a full-year after-tax loss of R1.1 billion, a stark reversal from the prior year’s R4.4 billion profit. According to BusinessTech, the fallout, shrouded in confidentiality, imperilled R2 billion in normalised EBITDA and prompted a 30 per cent share plunge, erasing over R22 billion in market value and amplifying scrutiny on the group’s R31.2 billion debt pile.
Chair Kuseni Dlamini characterised the episode as the fiscal year’s gravest trial, compelling a board-led overhaul that included Saad’s personal R200 million share infusion to rally investor faith—where executives now command 13.5 per cent ownership. Mitigation strategies encompass the domestication of an insulin commercialisation deal, projected to yield R300 million in 2026 revenues and surpass R1 billion by 2027, alongside facility reconfigurations in France and South Africa to hone sterile production efficiencies. As detailed in CNBC Africa, these recalibrations, including workforce adjustments and asset repurposing, aim to restore manufacturing profitability by 2027, even as forex volatilities and US tariff threats loom larger under evolving trade policies.
Aspen’s sprawling footprint—encompassing 24 plants across 15 locales in Europe, Asia, and the Americas—now commands a R45 billion valuation, a testament to its resilience amid these tempests. The Mounjaro trajectory not only heralds a counterweight to manufacturing woes but also embodies a broader ethos of localised innovation, with sub-Saharan launches potentially unlocking R5 billion in cumulative sales by decade’s end, per analyst extrapolations from IG South Africa. In a continent where NCDs exact a $1.3 trillion economic toll annually, as quantified by the World Health Organization, Aspen’s endeavours signal a pragmatic fusion of global alliances and homegrown acumen.
Ultimately, Saad’s blueprint interweaves opportunistic expansions with prudent fortifications, navigating a labyrinth of disputes and demands to fortify Aspen’s stature as Africa’s pharmaceutical vanguard. As 2026 dawns, the continent’s underserved patients stand to gain from this infusion of accessible, transformative care, while shareholders eye a rebound forged in diversification’s crucible.