Women die while waiting for government, pharmaceutical company to agree on price of cancer drug

29 May 2017 - 08:38 By KATHARINE CHILD and DAVID GERNON
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WORLD NEEDS HEROES: Junior superheroes came out in huge numbers to support the Charity Dash in Greenpoint, Cape Town, yesterday. The event was held to raise funds for cancer charities
WORLD NEEDS HEROES: Junior superheroes came out in huge numbers to support the Charity Dash in Greenpoint, Cape Town, yesterday. The event was held to raise funds for cancer charities
Image: DAVID HARRISON

South African woman have been dying of aggressive breast cancer while negotiations between a drug company and the government over the affordability of a drug to treat the illness remained deadlocked for more than a year.

The drug in question is called Herceptin or Trastumazab. It reduces the risk of this aggressive cancer returning in about 40% of breast cancer patients with HER2 positive breast cancer.

Herceptin is controversial across the globe because it is so expensive. It costs about R550 000 for a 12 month course in the South African private sector.

That is significantly more than the R211 920 per patient cost, for just a handful of state patients who receive it in a pilot project.

Drug company Roche Products told The Times it was optimistic that a deal to provide the life-saving drug to the government, at one of lowest prices in the world, was near to conclusion.

The discrepancy in cost showed that the private sector price was "significantly inflated," said market access scientist Joao Carapinha. "The Department of Health as made little inroads to address this issue."

Roche, however, said the price they were offering to government for all HER 2 positive state breast cancer patients was “on par with low income countries such as India”. India has the cheapest prices in the world. The drug costs about R100 000 there, per patient.

Herceptin is an antibody that is a living organism, explaining why it is more expensive to make and distribute than regular medicines.

Lotti Rutter from the healthcare access group, Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), said the offer was still "exorbitantly high".

Health department spokesperson Joe Maila said the government wanted a lower price than offered. “The offer was made but we believe that there is still room for further negotiations.”

Roche admitted that negotiations had taken a long time. Roche products spokesman Aadila Fakier said, however, "We are encouraged by the progressive nature of our engagement.”

Roche refused to give an indication of how many women in the state sector could benefit from the drug.

Carapinha said he believed that Herceptin was affordable for the state. "If the department of health ran an efficient and effective public health service, the medico-legal expenses could very easily pay for Herceptin," he said.

He criticised the drug company and health department for the deadlock, which has reportedly lasted 18 months.

He said: "Countless patients continue to suffer due to the inability of stakeholders to use the best available science to inform decisions on reimbursing Herceptin and any other medicine for that matter. We need less politics and more science, less clandestine activities and more public discourse. "

Rutter was critical of Roche's high prices: “ It is clear that Roche continues to maintain high prices at the expense of women's lives.”

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