The Competition Commission has referred international drug manufacturer Celgene Corporation and its subsidiary Celgene Logistics for prosecution by the Competition Tribunal for excessive pricing of a bone marrow cancer treatment drug, Revlimid.
The commission has asked the tribunal to impose a maximum penalty against Celgene for the alleged contravention of the Competition Act.
Celgene distributes Revlimid (lenalidomide) in SA through Key Oncologics.
Cancer Alliance director Salome Meyer said the alliance was “extremely happy” about the referral of the case to the tribunal. It had taken two years since the submission of the complaint of excessive pricing by the alliance to the commission in January 2023. The commission confirmed its intention to investigate this case in February 2023.
Meyer said that patients had access to the generic of the drug imported from India through section 21 of the Medicines Act at a cost of about R5,000 a month. However, the originator registered its drug in SA in 2016 which meant that the section 21 benefit fell away and the price went up to R75,000. Cancer Alliance says a year’s supply of lenalidomide is priced at R882,000 in SA and less than R32,000 in India.
“SA’s patent system is geared towards monopoly holders and is at odds with the government’s constitutional obligation to take reasonable legislative steps to protect and promote the right to health of people living in SA,” the alliance says on its website. “A revision in SA’s intellectual property policy could see the prices of medicines drop by as much as 90%.”
Revlimid is an immunomodulatory medicine that can change the immune system to work more effectively and is a first line medication used to treat multiple myeloma.
Multiple myeloma (sometimes referred to as myeloma) is a blood cancer that develops in plasma cells in the bone marrow — the soft, spongy tissue at the centre of bones — in more than one part of the body.
“The commission found, on the basis of the cost estimates it used, that Celgene’s mark-ups for Revlimid were excessive. The commission’s investigation also identified that Celgene’s excessive pricing took place from April 2016 until December 2020 in the private healthcare sector.
“The commission also found that Celgene was a dominant firm in the relevant market between 2016 and 2020, as Revlimid was the only lenalidomide medicine registered with the Medicines Control Council for use in the treatment of multiple myeloma in SA during this period,” the commission said in a statement on Friday.
The commission received evidence from various affected patients about the devastating effect the excessive Revlimid prices had on their ability to access treatment during this period.
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