The UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) is negotiating the advance purchase under the deal led by UNITAID and Wellcome, as part of the World Health Organization’s plan to accelerate access to therapeutics, a joint statement said.
Senior executive at Aspen Pharmacare, Stavros Nicolaou, said that the steroid in tablet form was not produced in the country.
The Independent Community Pharmacy Association of South Africa (ICPA) has raised the alarm after reports that people were buying dexamethasone to try and protect themselves against COVID-19.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize echoes Aspen's confidence, saying there are currently around 300,000 units of the product available in the country.
A clinical trial led by researchers at oxford university, has was found that when administered intravenously in small doses, dexamethasone reduced death rates by around a third among the most severely ill coronavirus patients.
The corticosteroid medication is manufactured in South Africa and is widely used to treat other diseases to relieve inflammation.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered an update in which he announced that more business sectors will be allowed to resume operating under strict rules. The president also addressed the issue of gender-based violence.
Britain has increased the amount of dexamethasone it has in stock and on order to 240,000 doses, health minister Matt Hancock said.
Dexamethasone is normally used to reduce inflammation in diseases such as arthritis, allergic reactions and asthma.
