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Aspen eyes African AIDS drug market

South African generic drug maker Aspen Pharmacare says it is eyeing Africa's anti-AIDS drugs market, which has huge potential demand. Aspen CEO Stephen Saad said only 8 percent of the approximately 4 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who needed treatment for HIV/AIDS were receiving it. The local Business Day newspaper quoted him as saying, "Antiretroviral medicines are becoming a bigger and bigger part of our production - we could never have foreseen this growth." Aspen has approval from the US Federal Drug Administration for some of its anti-AIDS drugs, and was recently also awarded the lion's share of the South African government's antiretroviral drug tenders.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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