South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare given all-clear to continue selling infant formula to China

17-Jan-2018 - Last updated on 17-Jan-2018 at 03:02 GMT

The Alula brand will continue to be available in China.

African pharma and nutra giant Aspen Pharmacare can continue to sell its infant formula brand Alula in China, after it was registered by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA).

The South African firm, which manufactures its products for China at its New Zealand joint venture (JV) plant, will be able to continue exporting to the world's largest infant formula market after meeting stringent new CFDA requirements.

The new rules came into force at the beginning of this month. They require all formulas to be approved by regulators, and firms are restricted to selling three brands and nine products.

Aspen entered a JV with New Zealand New Milk (NZNM) in 2015 to produce formulas for the APAC market, and began retailing in China last October.

The firm believes the abolition of China's one-child policy, along with high consumer regard for products made in New Zealand, will stand it in good stead.

Market manipulation?

Aspen has also been making gains in China's pharma space, having taken over the AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline product lines, and now boasts 650 sales staff in the country.

This positive news from the CFDA comes just days after Aspen CEO Stephen Saad demanded an inquiry into alleged market manipulation, following a drop in the company's shares amid rumours that a negative financial report was to be published by a US research group.

Saad told local media he believed that people were "trying to make money out of chaos".

Earlier this week, we reported how Australian firm Wattle Health is hopeful of securing CFDA accreditation for its goat milk formula products.