The success of the Danish company - Europe's second most valuable - is largely built on its weight-loss drugs.

Aspen Pharmaceuticals' contract to "fill and finish" human insulin for Novo Nordisk at its Gqeberha manufacturing facility offers hope for diabetics and for the local economy but, more than that, it's a key step in the fight against non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which kill an estimated 41 million people worldwide each year.

Chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular and respiratory health account for more than 80% of all premature NCD deaths globally - worsened by tobacco and excessive alcohol use, inactivity, unhealthy diets and pollution.

The World Health Organization says that each year 17 million people die from an NCD before the age of 70, and 86% of these premature deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.

Communicable diseases are converging with NCDs, which are a "silent and creeping pandemic", and arguably more destructive than Covid and many other infectious diseases, explains Dr Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen Pharmacare's senior executive responsible for strategic trade development, on the sidelines of the Developing Countries' Vaccine Manufacturers' Network (DCVMN) meeting in Cape Town.

It is the 24th meeting of the alliance of over 40 vaccine manufacturers from 15 developing countries involved in innovation, research, development, manufacturing and supply of high-quality vaccines globally....