Zuko Komisa

Global pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk to produce insulin in SA.
The announcement was made on Tuesday at a meeting attended by South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, Danish Finance Minister Nicoli Wammen, and WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and other Heads of State who attended the United Nations General Assembly session also attended the occasion.
The collaboration to produce the product is between Novo Nordisk and Aspen.
Aspen will use sterile infrastructure, part of which was previously used to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine, to produce insulin.
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Insulin helps your body turn food into energy and controls your blood sugar levels, it is mostly needed by patients with type 1 diabetes, whose body does not make any insulin and therefore insulin has to be injected regularly every day to stay alive.
According to Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, the manufacturing will be done in the city of Gqeberha in South Africa starting early 2024 and will cut the transport-related carbon footprint by 68%, Aspen will deploy 250 workers.
He also stated that the collaboration will aim to supply over 1 million patients – 16 million doses in 2024 with a further upscaling to 4 million patients in 2026.
“The collaboration between Novo Nordisk, a global leader in diabetic research and innovation, and Aspen, Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, will facilitate the production of human insulin,”
“Aspen will produce this under a contract with Novo Nordisk. We are optimistic that this partnership will significantly enhance access to insulin treatment not just in South Africa, but also across the continent,” Patel said.
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