The South African Competition Commission has opened an investigation into the artificial extension of the patent by the American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to monopolize the African country's market, the health department and the Health Justice Initiative (HJI) legal organization revealed at a media briefing of Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The move comes in addition to another investigation into overpricing of the key tuberculosis drug bedaquiline by the US-based firm.
"The Competition Commission believes J&J could be in contravention of Section 8 of the Competition Act, which deals with excessive pricing and exclusionary conduct, which, in this case, refers to the practice of evergreening [illegal strategy of expanding patents or other exclusivity to prolong company's monopoly]," the founder and director of HJI, Fatima Hassan noted.
The company allegedly made minor changes to the medicine or its use in order to extend the patent for bedaquiline compounds in South Africa, which ended in July, to 2027, which will allow the enterprise to dominate the market.
"We believe this is unprecedented. We do not know of other investigations by the Competition Commission into a pharmaceutical company for evergreening," Hassan added.
In addition, the director of the Rural Health Advocacy Project at Wits University in the country's city of Johannesburg, Russell Rensburg stressed that South African legislation needs to be improved in order to prevent evergreening practice.
"Something for our legislators to consider is why we haven’t fixed our [patent] laws to ensure we don’t expose ourselves to these kinds of exploitative practices. Fixing the patent laws is essential to addressing health inequity," he underlined.
The demand for bedaquiline in South Africa is high, as tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death in the country, with over 50,000 deaths in 2021.
"We are enraged to witness that J&J prioritizes profit over the needs of the most vulnerable populations in a country with a high burden of drug-resistant TB," Candice Sehoma of MSF said.
According to the media, currently, the state's health department purchases a six-month course for each patient at over $280. From October, the price is to rise up to more than $290 due to the start of a new contract with the company.
This means that the African country will pay $160 more than those states that purchase the medicine through the Stop TB partnership’s Global Drug Facility, which bargains for lower prices for TB medicines. South African open tender system does not allow buying medicine through such partnerships.
"We call on J&J to offer the same price of $130 for bedaquiline to the South African government as they have offered to countries that are part of the Global Drug Facility deal," Sehoma added.
Last week, the commission started the investigation based on information that the healthcare giant and its subsidiary "may have engaged in exclusionary practices and excessive pricing" of bedaquiline, according to the body's statement.
The tuberculosis drug accusations are not the first scandal involving Johnson & Johnson. In June, the Rwanda Food and Drug Authority (RFDA) revoked Johnson's baby powder and asked consumers to stop buying it due to the claims that J&J's products cause cancer and that the talc it used was tainted with the hazardous element asbestos.