US-based pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is facing an investigation in South Africa for allegedly charging "excessive" prices for a key tuberculosis drug, South Africa's Competition Commission said in a statement.
The antitrust regulator, which oversees business practices in the country, added that J&J's Belgium-based subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals is also under investigation.
According to the statement, the commission opened an investigation this week based on information that the healthcare giant and its subsidiary "may have engaged in exclusionary practices and excessive pricing" of bedaquiline.
"[There is] reasonable suspicion that the Respondents may have engaged in exclusionary practices and excessive pricing in the provision of Bedaquiline (trading as Sirturo) which is a drug used in the treatment of tuberculosis ('TB')," read the statement.
The commission declined to provide further details on the matter until it is finalized. However, media cited the country's health advocacy groups as saying that South Africa is charged more than twice as much for the drug than other low- and middle-income states.
Bedaquiline has been on the market since 2012 as a treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis. The drug is in high demand in South Africa, where the infectious disease is one of the leading causes of death, with over 50,000 deaths in 2021.
Moreover, there are over seven million people living with HIV in South Africa. The World Health Organization estimates that tuberculosis accounts for nearly one-third of deaths among people living with HIV/AIDS.
Last month, the US company responded to previous calls to reduce the drug's price by offering $130 courses per patient for a six-month treatment through the Stop TB Partnerships Global Drug Facility.
According to media reports, South Africa purchases bedaquiline directly from J&J and Janssen, rather than through the Stop TB facility, and pays about $280 for a six-month course for one patient.
Earlier this month, the Health Justice Initiative (HJI), a South African health advocacy group released details of South Africa's COVID-19 vaccine purchase contracts with several pharmaceutical companies, including J&J and US-based Pfizer. They were obtained after the non-profit organization won a freedom of information case in court.
The HJI's report revealed that South Africa's health authorities agreed to pay between 15% and 33% more per dose for COVID-19 vaccines from J&J and Pfizer-BioNTech than the European Union and the African Union.