Aspen embraces China babies
Drug maker eyes opportunities in sales of epidurals and anaesthetics after end of one-child policy in 2016
Drug maker Aspen Pharmacare plans aggressively to push its products in China as it expects a baby boom following on the abandonment of its one-child policy. China marked the end of the 35-year-old measure in January 2016, allowing couples now to have two children. On Thursday, Aspen CEO Stephen Saad said the policy change created opportunities for Aspen in the territory, especially for products such as epidurals and anaesthetics that are set to experience higher demand as more people give birth. Buying into the anaesthetics divisions of AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline in 2016 gave Aspen entry into China. "It is a high-risk environment," Saad said. "But, we’ve been encouraged by our early progress there so far." Anaesthetics and thrombosis medicines are its biggest products distributed in China. Aspen’s anaesthetics division posted revenue of R7bn, while its thrombosis division reported R5bn in revenue. Aspen deputy CEO Gus Attridge said China had always been on Aspen’s radar, althou...
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