Besides targeting the mainly generic medicines market in the private and public sector and OTC markets worth about R25 billion, we will actively pursue growing opportunities in Africa. With regional regulatory harmonisation activities being supported and promoted actively by the African Union, this is becoming a serious opportunity to first movers and we will definitely be in the forefront of this development.
We have about 16 products in the MCC pipeline where we hope to receive registrations and marketing authorisations in the next year or two. The pipeline beyond that timeframe is also growing.
We have also acquired B-Pharm (Pty) Ltd. that also has about 15 products in the MCC pipeline that will further augment our product offering.
Having achieved our target of commercializing products in quarter 4 of 2017, we have since progressed by introducing new products annually and reached 30 in quarter 4 of 2023. We have also successfully partnered with companies in neighbouring countries to reach both private and state markets – Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland to name a few.
We have already initiated discussions with various companies to register and supply our products in Nigeria and Kenya, and once supply starts will be able to leverage the volumes to supply many other African countries. This will generate much needed export revenue for South Africa.
....FINALLY
With the transition from being a subsidiary of a multinational pharmaceutical company to a fully black owned local pharmaceutical company, it is literally starting from scratch – with new products, new suppliers and even new customers. We, however, remain confident that with radical economic transformation firmly on the national agenda and the building blocks we have put in place, we are ready for the challenge in augmenting government’s objective of providing affordable and accessible medicines to all in South Africa.