OVERVIEW Pharmaceuticals
OVERVIEW Pharmaceuticals A licence to make a biosimilar drug has been granted. SECTOR HIGHLIGHTS Pharmacy Direct has spent R100-million on a warehouse upgrade. South Africa has one of the world’s biggest HIV/Aids programmes. The National Department of Health’s Centralised Chronic Medicines Dispensing and Distribution programme aims to reach six-million patients on treatment by 2021. It is currently serving 4.4-million patients. In mid-2018 Pharmacy Direct, an Afrocentric business based in Centurion, spent R100-million on upgrading a warehouse for distributing medicines to state patients. This sector is likely to grow if the state goes ahead with plans for National Health Insurance. The NHI intends to create a single fund that will buy services on behalf of all South Africans. The National Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NAPM) has re-branded as Generic and Biosimilar Medicines of Southern Africa. A new field opened up in the pharmaceutical industry when the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) gave ONLINE RESOURCES Centre for Advanced Manufacturing: www.cfam.co.za Chemical and Allied Industries’ Association: www.caia.co.za Generic and Biosimilar Medicines of Southern Africa: http://gbmsa.or National Health Insurance: www.health.gov.za/index.php/nhi the go-ahead for the production of a biosimilar drug in July 2018, the first time this has been allowed in South Africa. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries became the first company to win a licence with their version of Amgen’s filgrastim, a white blood cell booster. South Africa’s pharmaceutical sector is worth approximately R20- billion annually. Although there are more than 200 pharmaceutical firms in the country, large companies dominate the field, with Aspen Pharmacare (34%) and Adcock Ingram (25%) the two key players, followed by Sanofi, Pharmaplan and Cipla Medpro. Among the other big international brands active in Gauteng are Merck, which has a 55 000m² plant at Modderfontein, and Pfizer SA, which runs a laboratory in Sandton amongst its facilities in South Africa. Adcock Ingram is building a new steriles plant for ophthalmic products at its Clayville facility. The private sector accounts for 80% of pharmaceutical industry sales by value and 20% by volume, while this ratio is reversed in the case of the public sector. GAUTENG BUSINESS 2019/20 42
Education and training OVERVIEW New sectors are demanding new skills. The renewable energy sector is the fastest-growing new sector in South Africa. In response to the need for skilled personnel, Knowledge Pele, a subsidiary of Pele Green Energy, has launched the Knowledge Pele Academy in Kramerville, Johannesburg. The academy aims to promote skills and entrepreneurial development in rural, peri-urban and township communities. Courses for the academy are designed in response to information coming out of the relevant Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA). Offerings range from artisan training programmes and learnerships to short courses and workshops. The Workplace Integrated Learning (WIL) project of the Energy and Water SETA (EWSETA) will form part of the Knowledge Pele Academy programme, in support of the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges that are tasked with rolling it out. TVET colleges are concentrating on 13 trade areas, including bricklayers, millwrights, boilermakers and riggers. R16.5-billion has been allocated by national government to skills development and infrastructure over the medium term. Gauteng has eight TVET colleges. Zigna Training is another company which closely follows SETA requirements. In training students in operational hygiene and safety, the company adheres to standards set by the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA). The National Skills Authority (NSA) works with SETAs in carrying out the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS). Gauteng won the NSA’s 2017 gold award for artisan skills development. The Human Resource Development Council of South Africa (HRDCSA) is an overarching body working on skills development and training. Tertiary Well-regarded research units, top-ranked business schools and many universities, universities of technology and colleges are located in Gauteng. The mayor of Ekurhuleni has called for his city to have its own tertiary institution. ONLINE RESOURCES Gauteng Department of Education: www.education.gpg.gov.za National Department of Higher Education and Training: www.dhet.gov.za National Research Foundation: www.nrf.ac.za SECTOR HIGHLIGHTS A Workplace Integrated Learning programme has been introduced. Three of South Africa’s top five business schools are in Gauteng: the Wits Business School, the University of South Africa’s (Unisa’s) Graduate School of Business Leadership and the Gordon Institute of Business Science, on the Sandton campus of the University of Pretoria. Eighty percent of the 1 230 lecturers and researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) have post-graduate degrees, and 27 A-rated scientists work there. The university offers studies in more than 40 schools in five faculties. Pretoria hosts the head office of distance university Unisa, which has almost a quarter of a million students. The University of Pretoria (UP) is renowned for research. The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a comprehensive institution offering diplomas and degrees through a mix of vocational and academic programmes. The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) have several campuses. TUT’s 50 000 students attend classes on six campuses in four provinces. The main campus of VUT is in Vanderbijlpark. 43 GAUTENG BUSINESS 2019/20
