{"id":862580,"date":"2026-06-05T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=862580"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:30:18","slug":"storm-brewing-for-136-year-old-company-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/862580\/storm-brewing-for-136-year-old-company-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Storm brewing for 136-year-old company in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Competition Commission has formally referred a prosecution case against Adcock Ingram Critical Care (AICC) to the Competition Tribunal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AICC is accused of abusing its market dominance and engaging in excessive pricing, violating Section 8(1)(a) of the Competition Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AICC’s activities in critical care encompass a range of services, including the manufacture and distribution of intravenous fluids and renal dialysis systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renal dialysis serves essential functions similar to those of healthy kidneys when a patient faces kidney deterioration or failure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peritoneal dialysis can be conducted at home, whereas continuous renal replacement therapy is primarily performed in intensive care units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case specifically addresses the hardware and consumables required for peritoneal dialysis (home treatments) and continuous renal replacement therapy (primarily used in hospital ICUs) for kidney failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The complaint referral concerns the products required to provide these treatments, rather than the treatment itself,” said the Competition Commission of South Africa’s spokesperson, Siyabulela Makunga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission investigated the matter following a complaint filed with it and found that AICC is dominant in the South African market for renal replacement therapy products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alleged overcharging and profiteering occurred over a five-year period from July 2019 to June 2024, encompassing the pandemic era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission found that AICC’s prices significantly exceeded its actual economic and operating costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Economic costs include operating costs and costs of capital. This is a prima facie indication of an abuse of dominance in terms of section 8(1)(a) of the Act,” said Makunga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With chronic kidney disease affecting 6% to 17% of South Africans, this condition artificially inflates healthcare costs, placing a heavy financial burden on vulnerable patients, private medical schemes, and the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The pricing of essential healthcare products has important implications for healthcare costs, access to
treatment, and the efficient functioning of healthcare markets,\u201d said Commissioner Doris Tshepe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The commission\u2019s intervention in this matter reflects its commitment to ensuring that firms do not use market power to charge excessive prices for products that are critical to patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission is seeking a declaration of guilt from the Tribunal and an administrative fine of up to 10% of AICC’s annual turnover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adcock Ingram’s financials<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Adcock Ingram reported group turnover of R9.8 billion for its 2025 financial year. This means that the maximum possible administrative penalty could reach R980 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company’s most recent annual financial statements provide some context, although they do not specify revenue from the particular renal products mentioned in the commission\u2019s referral. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hospital division of Adcock Ingram is identified as the supplier of critical care products, including intravenous solutions, blood collection products, and renal dialysis systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the year ended June 30, 2025, this division reported revenue of R2.19 billion, up from R2.05 billion in the previous year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, trading profit in the hospital division declined to R125.3 million from R128.4 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the division reported revenue of R558.1 million from the South African government, down from R570.2 million in the prior year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adcock Ingram was delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in November 2025, with India\u2019s Natco Pharma acquiring around 35% shares of the 136-year-old company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African giant Bidvest owns the remaining shares of Adcock Ingram, which is around 65% of the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Competition Commission has formally referred a prosecution case against Adcock Ingram Critical Care (AICC) to the Competition Tribunal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":862598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[13311,1879],"class_list":["post-862580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-adcock-ingram","tag-competition-comission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862580"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862680,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862580\/revisions\/862680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}