A complaint against the high prices charged for Aids drugs by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has been taken to the Competition Tribunal in Pretoria, the Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF) said on Friday.
The AHF claims the drug manufacturer’s pricing is to the detriment of South Africans with HIV/Aids and violates the Competition Act.
”We have had to turn people away from our clinic because we simply don’t have the funds to treat all the people who need treatment. If the price of GSK’s Aids drugs had been lower, we might have been able to save their lives,” said AHF president Michael Weinstein.
His organisation runs a free Aids treatment clinic in Durban.
The AHF’s complaint against GSK was originally filed with the Competition Commission in January 2003, shortly after the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) lodged a similar complaint.
Both complaints were referred to the Competition Tribunal for a further hearing.
The TAC and GSK reached a settlement without having to refer the case, but the AHF did not, and its complaint was officially filed with the tribunal on Thursday.
GSK will now have 20 days to respond to the complaint, the AHF said.
The AHF wants GSK to reduce the price of its key Aids drug, combivir, to R7 a month in South Africa, as ”compensation for the harm they have done”.
At present one month’s treatment with the drug costs about R550, said AHF spokesperson Swazi Hlubi.
She said the organisation will wait for GSK’s response before initiating further legal action.
”They must lower their prices,” she said.
However, TAC legal representative Fatima Hassan said it is not just about dropping prices.
”You don’t simply want GSK to drop their prices, that is not a sustainable solution,” she said.
She said the TAC believes allowing other companies to manufacture generic versions of the drugs at a reasonable royalty will solve the pricing problem.
”We withdrew the complaint once GSK agreed to grant four more companies voluntary licences. We are expecting quite a dramatic reduction in prices in the next few months.”
On Friday Weinstein said the AHF is pleased the ”harm caused” by GlaxoSmithKline’s actions will be brought to the attention of the public.
”Our intention is to start a campaign seeking further price reductions from GSK as redress for the millions of unnecessary deaths of South Africans caused by GSK’s Aids-drug pricing policies in South Africa.”
GSK could not be reached for comment on Friday. — Sapa