Cost of new drugs 'soars'

In 1990 18 pharmaceutical companies were researching the development of antibiotics.

But by 2010 only four companies were researching antibiotics.

In a report released yesterday experts predicted 10million people would die every year from simple infections by 2050.

The report by the High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines set up by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon looked into the shortage of drugs that do not make money for investors and the rocketing cost of new drugs.

The panel of 15 experts spoke to drug companies, patients and governments across the world - including Johannesburg.

The findings call for new models to fund drug development which do not rely only on profit.

Ruth Dreifuss, a co-chair of the panel, said the private sector was a "tremendous driver of innovation" but for those medical challenges that could not create market demand, supplementary models of funding were necessary.

The report said the current model of antibiotic funding was "unsustainable" and greater public financial commitment was needed.

One of the panel's chief concerns was the high cost of new drugs.

In South Africa a course of Herceptin, a drug used to treat breast cancer, costs R500000, but many medical aids refuse to pay for it and it is not available to state patients.

It can cost up to R2-million for Yervoy, a melanoma drug, but it helps only one in four patients. This means it would cost R8-million to save one life, straining medical aids.

US cancer drugs have doubled in cost in the past decade from $5000 to $10000 a month, the report said.

The panel included South Africa's Department of Health director-general Precious Matsoso, who said yesterday the cost of developing and marketing drugs needed to be transparent.

"The cost of research and development [often used to defend the high cost of drugs] and production and end prices needs to be clear to consumers and the government," Matsoso said.

The report pointed out "large disparities" between what the industry and governments say it costs to bring a new drug to market.

An industry-funded study said that to bring a new drug to market would cost between $2.56-billion and $2.86-billion. But Canadian academics said it would cost between $130-million and $196-million.

The panel recommended the World Trade Organisation take action against companies that bully countries who use international agreements to procure cheaper medicines and avoid patents.

Thailand used international law to import generic antiretrovirals in 2006 and 2007 but faced dire consequences from drug companies that threatened to stop developing and selling drugs in the country.