Barrs Pharmaceuticals, which was unable to supply its share of the government’s Aids drug tender, has exited business rescue and sold a controlling stake to the South African subsidiary of Indian generic drug manufacturer Hetero, reports Business Day.
This means supplies of the critical drugs will resume, as the company would step in to cover Barrs’ share of the tender. Barrs has also begun fulfilling outstanding orders for morphine powder, after a prolonged shortage at the end of last year it had attributed to increased global demand.
Business rescue consultant Karl Gribnitz said Hetero South Africa would acquire 78% of the shares in Barrs for R92m.
Barrs and sister company Innovata Pharmaceuticals, which each won a share of the contracts to supply the three-in-one pill taken by most HIV patients, went into business rescue in December.
Both companies are subsidiaries of Avacare, which also went into business rescue at the time. Avacare and all of its subsidiaries have now exited business rescue, according to Gribnitz.
The development is a positive one for Hetero South Africa, which had launched legal action against the National Department of Health for excluding it from the R12.6bn tender to supply monthly and three-monthly packs of the triple pill combining tenofovir, lamivudine and dolutegravir (TLD) for alleged collusion with other bidders.
Not out of the woods
While Barrs’ agreement with Hetero SA provides the department with some assurance that critical Aids drug supplies are secure, Barrs is not yet out of the woods.
Part of the Cape Town-based pharmaceutical manufacturer has been shuttered since September after it failed to rectify problems repeatedly flagged by inspectors from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) in 2021 and 2023, issues that were still not resolved when officials visited again in August 2025.
SAHPRA consequently issued Barrs with a directive instructing it to cease manufacturing activities and quarantine all products manufactured at its non-compliant facility.
The problems included deficiencies in Barrs’ contamination and cross-contamination controls, posing potential risks to product safety and quality, said SAHPRA.
Barrs submitted a plan to SAPHRA in January with proposed corrective measures, but it has yet to be approved by the regulator.
Gribnitz said only Barr’s business operations for making creams and liquids were closed. The rest of the business, including the facilities for repackaging imported morphine powder and manufacturing Aids drugs, is unaffected by the directive, he said.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Suppliers’ business rescue threatens critical medicines supply
HIV drugs roll-out under threat in court tender row