UK anti-trust regulator investigates South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare

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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Britain’s competition regulator has launched an investigation into Africa’s biggest generic drug maker Aspen Pharmacare over alleged anticompetitive conduct in the supply of blood pressure and arthritis drugs, Aspen said on Friday.

“The investigation is at an early, information-gathering stage and the CMA has confirmed that, at this time, it has not reached any conclusion on whether competition law has been infringed,” Aspen said in a statement.

Aspen said the drugs – Fludrocortisone acetate 0.1 mg tablets and Dexamethasone 2 mg tablets – under investigation by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had a combined revenue of 11.1 million pounds ($15 million) in Britain last year.

Shares in Aspen, based in Durban, have surged since 2008 on the back of its overseas expansion as it benefits from the expiry of patents on best-selling drugs.

(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng. Editing by Jane Merriman)

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