S African Firms Challenge Govt Drug Price Claims

Following a complaint filed in June by the Pharmaceutical ManufacturersAssociation of South Africa, the country's Public Protector has asked the Health Ministry and the Department of Health to substantiate certain statements concerning the costs of drugs and levels of use of generics in South Africa.

The statements are: - SA is rated in the world's five most expensive countries for drugs; - some drugs sell in SA for up to 4,000% above the world average; - ie SA pays 2,500% more for tapeworm drugs than the international norm; - drug costs have risen at double the inflation rate in the past 10 years; and - prescribing of generics in SA, at 16%, lags behind countries such as the USA (48%) and the UK (54%).

In a 30-page affidavit backed by extensive references to media reports since March and other data, PMA chief executive Mirryena Deeb says the claims may not be substantiable. They seem, she says, to have been made by Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma and members of her Ministry and Department to create a view that drug majors in SA are responsible for unreasonably high drug costs, which would justify the draconian measures in the Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Bill which Dr Zuma tried to rush through Parliament (Marketletter June 23). The bill was withdrawn but resubmitted and approved June 18, and is expected to be published in August.