S.Africa's Aspen, GSK team up to extend foothold in Japan

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 9 (Reuters) - South Africa generic drugmaker Aspen Pharmacare has teamed up with shareholder GlaxoSmithKline PLC (Other OTC: GLAXF - news) to extend its foothold in Japan, a lucrative market for low-cost medicines, it said on Thursday.

Aspen, Africa's biggest generic drugmaker, would sell a 25 percent stake in a newly established Japanese business to GlaxoSmithKline, which already owns about 12 percent of Aspen.

Under the deal, GlaxoSmithKline would transfer distribution rights of certain products to the new entity, Aspen Japan. GSK would also provide Aspen Japan with a pipeline for a number generic medicines.

Politicians in the world's second-biggest pharmaceutical market are lobbying for more generic drugs to go on sale to bring down the cost of healthcare for a rapidly ageing population.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Aspen climbed 4.3 percent to 354.51 rand by 1050 GMT, outpacing 1.5 percent gain in the JSE Top-40 index . (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Ed Stoddard)