War declared on cancer drug pricing
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NOT since 2001, with the introduction of affordable and accessible medication to treat HIV/AIDS, has South Africa experienced such a revolution in health care as we are witnessing now in the battle over cancer drugs.
Only this time the battle is about getting pharmaceutical giants to loosen their grip and so bring down prices and stop market domination.
With predictions that cancer rates in South Africa are expected to rise by 78% over the next 13 years, the recent news of the Competition Commission’s probe into the high cost of cancer drugs from three pharmaceutical firms is welcome and long overdue.
The call has been echoed over the years by Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, an open critic of pharmaceutical giants that monopolise the market and demand more stringent protection of their patents on life-saving drugs. Motsoaledi went as far as to call their actions “genocide”.
The three pharmaceutical companies under investigation by the commission are Roche, which produces breast cancer drugs, Pfizer, the supplier of lung cancer medicine, and Aspen, which also provides cancer drugs. All three firms are under scrutiny for alleged price collusion.
It comes amid investigations in other countries. Aspen was recently fined €5million in Italy after a finding that the firm had raised the prices of some cancer drugs by more than 1 500%.
While the company has said it was appealing against that ruling, it has come under a new investigation, this time in Brussels, reportedly accused of deliberately withdrawing some cancer drugs from the market to generate demand and push up prices by several hundred percent.
The battle lines on the prices of cancer drugs have been drawn, with governments fighting for affordable and accessible drugs, and pharmaceutical firms wanting to maximise profits.
If the Competition Commission is successful in its bid to prove unfair pricing, the result will be lifechanging as it could pave the way for a new era of affordable cancer treatment. At an average cost of up to R1 million a year, depending on treatment, even those on medical aid are left short-changed as not all costs are covered.
For many cancer patients, the cost of treatment often becomes a “debt” sentence.
As a cancer carer to family, I am familiar with this journey. The anguish of waiting for approval from the medical aid before desperately needed treatment can be provided is traumatic. But nothing compares to the anguish suffered by thousands of sufferers who don’t have a thread of hope to hold on to.
Thousands depend on our public health facilities, which are often held to ransom by firms charging high prices to maximise profit and monopolise the market by restricting entry.
By holding on to the intellectual property rights on the production of the drugs for long periods, with automatic renewal when this term lapses, pharmaceutical firms have almost guaranteed their market dominance and control of access to drugs.
But with new intellectual property policies planned in favour of patients rather than profits, there is hope. This, coupled with a successful finding against big firms that charge exorbitant prices, will do for cancer patients what ARVS did for the HIV/ Aids pandemic: give them a fighting chance.
Success would enable South Africa to import cheaper options. India, for instance, is a market leader in generic drugs.
The stakes are high and the pharmaceutical lobby is influential with deep pockets. In the US, they are said to be the biggest funders of political campaigns.
Aspen is already coming out, guns blazing, denying it is pushing up prices unfairly. In response to the commission’s probe, it said it “welcomed” the process and the opportunity to set aside allegations of anti-competitive behaviour. More recently, the company pointed out that prices were approved by the Department of Health in terms of the single exit price regulatory framework that establishes a universal fixed price for each product.
Whatever the defence, the costs of cancer drugs and treatment is unaffordable for South Africans.