Cape Town - Cancer activists say they were thrilled by the news that the Competition Commission will prosecute international pharmaceutical company Roche for allegedly overpricing a breast cancer treatment drug, trastuzumab.
Trastuzumab is a first-line treatment life-saving drug which stops the development of an aggressive type of breast cancer called Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Positive (HER2+) breast cancer.
It is used to stop the development of these tumour cells to prevent the cancer from spreading, and death.
The campaign against Roche goes back to 2016, when women protesting against the high cost of breast cancer medicine draped bras over Roche’s stand at the Aids conference in Durban.
The protesters said at the time that corporate greed was behind the R485 000 price tag for a year’s treatment of trastuzumab.
A six-month course of the drug costs more than R200 000 in the public sector, but activists say a generic drug could cost R3 500 a course.
Speaking in Cape Town on behalf of the Cancer Alliance, with the Fix the Patent Law campaign, Salomé Meyer said it had taken considerable time to get to this point.
“This case is a major breakthrough for access to medicine and also vaccines. The case will pave the way for other cases of price gouging. You cannot have medicines only for a select few people.”
She said the Commission’s action was sending the right message.
On Tuesday, the Competition Commission said it would prosecute Swiss-based Roche for allegedly overpricing trastuzumab.
Commissioner, Tembinkosi Bonakele, said the Commission had filed a referral with the Competition Tribunal.
“The excessive price of trastuzumab constitutes a violation of basic human rights, including the right of access to health-care enshrined in the Bill of Rights, as it denies access to life saving medicine for women living with breast cancer.”
She said the Commission had prioritised this case because the impact of excessive pricing of trastuzumab falls heavily on women.
“Particularly poor women, who cannot access essential treatment because they cannot afford to pay for it. This is so even for the minority of women who belong to medical schemes.”
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za