Further enforcing its efforts in emerging pharmaceutical markets, US drug giant Merck & Co (known as MSD outside the USA and Canada) yesterday announced a strategic collaboration between MSD South Africa and Adcock Ingram, a publicly-held South African company, to co-promote and distribute a number of established MSD products in South Africa.
The products that will be jointly promoted by MSD and Adcock Ingram include over-the-counter (OTC) products and selected prescription medicines currently registered in South Africa by MSD and Schering-Plough, which it acquired last year. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed.
Merck is not the first to view the South African market, which was valued at around $2 billion for 2008 and expected to be worth $3 billion in 2012. Late last year, UK giant GlaxoSmithKline completed a deal with local drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare, buying a 19% stake in the latter, as part of a wide ranging agreement which includes combining commercial activities in Sub-Saharan Africa and the divestment of several assets ' notably eight specialty drugs - to Aspen (The Pharma Letter December 2, 2009).
This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.
Login to your accountTry before you buy
7 day trial access
Become a subscriber
Or £77 per month
The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed
Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK
Copyright © The Pharma Letter 2025 | Headless Content Management with Blaze