Aspen Pharmacare [JSE:APN] agreed to a partnership with India’s Laurus Labs to boost supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients that will help reduce the cost of HIV drugs.
The Durban-based company plans to licence intellectual property rights owned by Laurus, executive Stavros Nicolaou said by phone on Friday. The Indian company will gain a trading entity in South Africa as part of the deal, he said.
The move will put Aspen in a better position to bid for government contracts as the country plans to scale up treatment to 6 million people, Nicolaou said. The deal was first reported by Business Day newspaper.
The shares rose 0.3% on Friday morning on the JSE.