More than 10 000 breast cancer patients were unable to receive treatment because of excessive prices charged by health multinational Roche. This is according to the Competition Commission, which has filed a referral to prosecute the Swiss firm.

The excessive pricing of Trastuzumab – used to stop the development of an aggressive type of breast cancer – constitutes a violation of basic human rights, the commission announced yesterday.

The Mail & Guardian quotes commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele as saying it has asked the tribunal to impose a maximum penalty against Roche, for its alleged harmful and life-denying pricing conduct.

According to the commission, the alleged price hiking took place in both the private and public healthcare sectors.

In SA, Trastuzumab is sold under Roche’s brand name Herceptin in the private sector and under the brand name Herclon in the public sector.

The commission initiated a complaint against Roche and its subsidiary, Genentech Incorporated, in June 2017. Towards the end of 2021, the commission amended the complaint to include Roche Basel and Roche SA.

Roche, the commission said, declined to provide it with its cost data.

This was despite the commission pursuing all available legal channels, including the diplomatic channels needed to obtain the data from Switzerland, where it is allegedly being held.

The commission thus relied on the estimated cost of manufacturing a drug with the same active properties and clinical outcomes as Trastuzumab.

It also relied on ratios estimating the benefit attributable to Trastuzumab against its affordability. 

According to the commission, the competitive benchmarks it used show that Roche’s pricing of Trastuzumab ‘is significantly out of kilter’.

A 12-month course of Herceptin in the private sector costs about R355 000 for 17 cycles of treatment for one year.

In the public sector, an equivalent treatment with Herclon costs about R160, reports M&G.

The commission said the prohibitive cost of Herceptin impeded patients on medical aid schemes access to the drug in two main ways.

Before 2019, Herceptin was only offered to medical aid members with comprehensive medical aid cover. Patients on non-comprehensive schemes therefore had to pay for the drug out-of-pocket. And even patients on comprehensive medical cover were subjected to higher co-payments for treatment with Herceptin.

The commission concluded the excessive prices charged by Roche could not be justified, even when allowing for reasonable compensation for research and development.

Full Mail & Guardian report