The Competition Commission has initiated investigations against giant American pharmaceutical company, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its Belgium based subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceutica over the high pricing of the tuberculosis (TB) drug bedaquiline.
The investigations come after it was revealed that the company charged South Africa double for bedaquiline, compared to other countries.
This week, during the briefing by Rural Health Advocacy Project, Health Justice Initiative and Doctors Without Borders, director of drug-resistant TB at the national Department of Health Prof Norbert Ndjeka, said the government was being overcharged by J&J, where the state was paying R5 400 for each patient for the drug.
“We have negotiated a price reduction, while we are willing to negotiate again, we have not been spending more than the rest of the world but with the new contract it is true we will be spending more from October 1,” said Ndjeka. He also said the department spoke to the commission regarding the matter.
“My request to J&J has been that we need to continue to enjoy reasonable pricing because we are the ones who put this drug on the map,” said Ndjeka.
Questions were asked by health advocates why the country was paying about twice as much as other low- and middle-income countries.
Fatima Hassan, a director and founder of the Health Justice Initiative, said the commission was investigating the possibilities of pharmaceutical companies for slightly modifying drugs to be granted new exclusive rights.
“Evergreening and unfair pricing are both anticompetitive. The investigation is unprecedented as J&J will also be investigated for what the Competition Commission believes is a violation of the Competition Act in relation to what it called exclusionary conduct, and that relates to the evergreening patenting practice of TB drug bedaquiline.
“We will work together with other TB campaigners around the world to provide information to competition authorities so that the investigation can be thorough, to ensure patients and people in South Africa are no longer subjected to the exploitative pricing conduct of J&J.”
This investigation comes just a month after the Pretoria High Court ordered the government to provide access to its Covid-19 vaccine procurement contracts.
Access campaign advocacy officer at Médecins Sans Frontières, Candice Sehoma said: “We are enraged to witness that J&J prioritises profit over the needs of the most vulnerable populations in a country with a high burden of drug-resistant TB. We call on J&J to offer the same price of R 2 446 for bedaquiline to the South African government as they have offered to countries that are part of the Global Drug Facility deal.”
The commission’s spokesperson Siya Makunga said: “The initiation is based on information in the commission’s possession that gives rise to a reasonable suspicion that the respondents (J&J) may have engaged in exclusionary practices and excessive pricing in the provision of bedaquiline, which is a drug used in the treatment of TB. This conduct may be in possible contravention of sections 8(1)(c) and 8(1)(a) of the act. The matter is under investigation.”
J&J spokesperson Ronan Collins said: “Johnson & Johnson will cooperate fully with the Competition Commission in its inquiry, and cannot comment further while this is ongoing.”
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