PRICING STRATEGY
Aspen shares take knock
The pharmaceuticals group shares suffer after reports detailing its aggressive pricing strategy for off-patent cancer drugs
Pharmaceuticals group Aspen’s share price lost more than 4% on Tuesday after reports in the UK and Australia detailing the company’s aggressive pricing strategy for off-patent cancer drugs it bought from GSK several years ago. At Tuesday’s close of R269.69 the share was near its 12-month low and substantially off its record high of R436 reached in February 2015. A curt note referring to legal action in Italy and claiming sub judice did little to settle concern. "Aspen looks forward to the opportunity to demonstrate the integrity and legality of its practices in the context of these legal processes," it said. The oncology products at the centre of the controversy generated €60m in financial 2016. The group’s revenue for the year was R35.6bn. The pricing at the centre of an article in the UK’s The Times happened in the UK, Spain and Italy from 2012. There was brief public discussion of the matter in SA in October 2016 after the Italian competition authorities levied a €5.2m fine on As...
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