Aspen Pharmacare, South Africa’s largest pharmaceutical company, is awaiting regulatory approval to roll out diabetic drug Mounjaro for weight loss, but the bad news is that some 900 jobs are at risk of being chopped because of the group's overall poor performance.
The Citizen reports that the company’s financial results for the year ended 30 June 2025 show that the diabetic medication significantly contributed to the group’s performance, with sales reaching at least R100m.
Despite this success, however, Aspen reported a loss of at least R1bn due to contract issues and billions in impairments.
“Manufacturing performance and intangible asset impairments have been negatively affected by the material contractual dispute,” read the results.
The company announced on 22 April 2025 that shareholders should expect normalised EBITDA from the manufacturing business for the year to be potentially R2bn lower. The dispute relates to a manufacturing and technology agreement with a contract manufacturing customer for mRNA products.
Weight loss drug to the rescue
Aspen is putting its faith in Mounjaro to recover the losses, saying the product has the potential to reach R1bn by the end of the 2027 financial year.
“Resultant revenue of R0.3bn is forecast for FY 2026, ramping up to more than R1bn for FY 2027,” it said.
Mounjaro is available for around R5 000 and is also available in vial form. The approval by the South African Health Regulatory Authority of the Kwikpen delivery system for the management of type 2 diabetes has generated huge revenue for the group, which is now awaiting approval for the medication to be used for chronic weight management.
However, The Herald reports that Aspen Pharmacare is starting a fresh wave of retrenchments, with more than 900 jobs now at risk – hard on the heels of the earlier loss of 134 jobs caused by the shutdown of the multinational company’s eye drops production facility in Gqeberha.
In the past 12 months, Aspen, which has 451 employees in East London and 2 064 in Gqeberha, has retrenched 208 workers, reports The Herald.
Employees said everyone was tense, describing the situation as “a bloodbath of job losses”.
Last Thursday, Aspen SA Operations GM Branson Bosman sent a Section 189A notice to unions saying the company was considering operational changes that could result in redundancies in some areas of the business. This was due to the closure of the eye drops lines, loss of manufacturing contracts and escalating costs.
According to the notice, 923 employees will be affected.
Unions are contesting the outcome of the Aspen SVP 1 consultation process, which resulted in 134 jobs being cut, tied to the closure of its eye drops production facility after findings by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A CCMA conciliation meeting is set for today (11 September).
Unions previously accused the company of starting a new round of retrenchments during the process.
Aspen spokesperson Shauneen Beukes said the company would not comment on employee or employment-related matters.
In the notice, Bosman said no date had been set for the layoffs, which would depend on consultation outcomes and business continuity needs.
In previous disclosures, the company said it had lost a R2bn contract.
“Aspen SA operations have experienced a significant change in operational requirements directly affecting its manufacturing operations and cost base,” Bosman said.
The eye drops lines were suspended after a September 2024 FDA inspection, and permanently decommissioned in April 2025.
The FDA had warned Aspen in February that the facility put the products at risk of microbial contamination. The eye drops were marketed exclusively in the US.
The agency found Aspen did not establish scientific systems to monitor impurities during stability testing of products containing the active pharmaceutical ingredients naphazoline hydrochloride or tetrahydrozoline hydrochloride. They are used in non-prescription drops used to treat redness caused by minor irritations to the eye.
Inspectors had found levels of impurities, which could not be identified, that might pose a risk to patient safety.
The Citizen article – Goodbye Ozempic? Aspen plans to roll out weight-loss drug (Restricted access)
The Herald – Hundreds more Aspen jobs in the firing line
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Aspen ready to help shrink global shortage of weight-loss drugs
Weight-loss drug Wegovy debuts in SA
Blockbuster diabetic drug now in SA
Which breakthrough weight-loss medicines are available in SA?