Aspen yet to engage over ‘excessive prices’

DURBAN-based Aspen Pharmacare said yesterday it had not had any engagement with the Competition Commission about allegations that it had abused its dominance by charging excessive prices in the provision of life-saving cancer medicine in South Africa.

Aspen was named among three pharmaceutical giants, including Roche and Pfizer, that the Competition Commission on Tuesday said it would be investigating for alleged excessive prices and price-fixing, price-discrimination, abuse of dominance and abuse of patent laws.

Aspen is also under investigation by competition authorities in various European countries for alleged excessive pricing.

The commission said it was of the view that Aspen appeared to be a dominant firm in the provision of the Leukeran, Alkeran and Myleran drugs in South Africa and the only supplier of a generic version of Busulfan in tablet form.

The commission said Aspen’s Leukeran brand was listed as a generic and there does not seem to be a listing for an originator product in the country.

In a response on Tuesday, Aspen initially said it had “noted” the commission’s announcement and that it was committed to full and constructive engagement in this investigation.

Aspen said pharmaceutical prices were approved by the Department of Health in terms of the Single Exit Price (SEP) regulatory framework, which establishes a universal fixed price and that it had not increased pricing of its products outside of this regulatory framework.

The company said the supply of the oncology products in question was no exception.

But yesterday, Aspen said it wanted to clarify some key issues on the products listed by the commission in its announcement, saying these products were all post-patent, and had been for some time now. – ANA