South African drugmaker Aspen, which sells US manufacturer Eli Lilly’s popular weight-loss drug Mounjaro in South Africa, is aiming to secure approval to sell the medication in other parts of the continent this year.
Aspen’s CEO told investors that he expects sales of Mounjaro — which launched in South Africa in 2024 — to cross 1.3 billion rand ($77.7 million) in the year to June.
The global weight-loss drug market is expected to reach $100 billion by 2030. Aspen, Africa’s biggest drugmaker, is looking to tap into the growing demand for weight-loss treatments in sub-Saharan Africa, where drugs which act as an appetite suppressant by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 are not widely available. In South Africa, Mounjaro competes with Danish company Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy. Africa’s biggest economy is grappling with a growing obesity crisis, driving demand for weight-loss medication.
