South Africa’s Competition Commission is set to probe Johnson & Johnson amid claims that the Big Pharma is charging the nation more than double than the rest of the world for its tuberculosis (TB) drug bedaquiline.
In a briefing hosted by the Health Justice Initiative (HJI) and other health advocacy groups, HJI founder Fatima Hassan said the investigation would look at whether J&J’s exclusion of patents violated South African competition law.
J&J did not immediately respond to an Endpoints News request for comment.
“The reasonable suspicion is that Johnson & Johnson has violated Section 8 of the Competition Act relating to excessive pricing,” Hassan explained. Bedaquiline was first approved by South Africa’s Medicines Control Council in March 2013.
However, J&J only let go of some patents for bedaquiline this July in a limited number of low- and middle-income countries after a negotiation with Stop TB Partnership….
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