February 7, 2017
ACT UP NY Joins Global Day of Action Against Roche
READ TIME: 5 MIN.
Swiss multinational company Roche faced global condemnation today from women living with cancer, families of people with cancer, activists, scientists, researchers and health professionals from across the world. They highlighted the immoral and unconscionable tactics employed by Roche across the developed and developing world. Roche's greed is preventing women from accessing affordable versions of trastuzumab, an essential medicine used in the treatment of breast cancer.
The global day of action was led by women living with cancer in South Africa who gathered outside Roche's office in Johannesburg demanding justice for Tobeka Daki -- a leading cancer activist from South Africa whose own struggle against cancer ended last year.
"In South Africa today, we launched the Tobeka Daki Campaign for Access to Trastuzumab. In loving memory of a fearless activist who led our struggle to ensure women could get this medicine," said Salom� Meyer of the Cancer Alliance in South Africa. "Even as the likelihood of her being able to get trastuzumab diminished, Tobeka's determination to ensure other women could access the medicine only grew stronger."
Despite being a good candidate for trastuzumab, Tobeka was never able to access the treatment due to its high cost. In South Africa, the annual price charged by Roche in the private sector is around US$ 38 365 (ZAR 516,700). The few public facilities which can access trastuzumab do so at a lower price of around US$ 15 735 (ZAR 211,920) per year. But, health economists have shown that a year's worth of trastuzumab can be produced and sold for only US$ 240, a price that includes a 50 percent increase above the cost of production for profit.
Roche maintains its high prices in every way possible. Roche holds multiple evergreened patents on trastuzumab in certain countries across the world. In South Africa, for example, multiple patents extend Roche's monopoly until 2033. In countries where the patents expired or do not exist, Roche is using other means to block potentially more affordable biosimilar versions coming to market.
"In India Roche have embroiled India's drug regulatory body and biosimilar producers in long-running and increasingly complex litigation to prevent the widespread availability of potentially affordable versions of trastuzumab," said Kalyani Menon Sen, a women's rights activist from India. "Even as Roche withdrew its patent applications on trastuzumab in India in the face of patent oppositions that were likely to succeed, it applied new ways to continue to be the sole supplier. We are demanding that they immediately cease all litigation against biosimilar products."
In Brazil and Argentina, Roche is one of the pharmaceutical companies litigating against those governments for their attempts to use legal international safeguards to protect public health.
"The Brazilian government pays 73 times more than what health economists estimate trastuzumab could be sold for. It's just too expensive," said Graciela Rodriguez, a women's rights activist from Brazil. "Worse now, Roche are also suing our government -- through a case filed by Interfarma -- for attempting to stop abusive patenting practices more broadly. Roche doesn't like the fact that the Brazilian government have a system of examining patent applications and rejecting those that don't meet our standards."
"I stand in solidarity with people living with cancer around the world. The�high cost of my own�treatment has affected my ability to�follow doctors' orders to remain healthy," said Timothy Lunceford-Stevens of ACT UP New York, a�two-time cancer survivor who also lives with other disabilities. "I have been refused Pharma�support programs because my�government assistance�program for people with disabilities disqualifies me. In the United States, seniors and people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable�to�the high cost of medicines�by pharmaceutical companies like Roche, and the government's system to�help get�medicines to patients is rigged."�
Melanie Kennedy, a breast cancer patient and�mother of two�from Northern Ireland in the UK said,
"Roche's behaviour in South Africa is an outrage. The price they are charging for trastuzumab firmly puts their profits ahead of the lives of women with breast cancer. As a breast cancer patient in the UK, this comes as no surprise. Roche are trying to charge a price for T-DM1, the drug I will need to take after trastuzumab, that is so high even the UK cannot afford it. Patients in the NHS are in the same situation as patients in South Africa -- paying with their lives for Roche's greed. They must drop the price -- and if they don't our governments must take action to protect women's lives by over-riding Roche's patent and securing affordable versions of their medicines."
In 2015 Roche made US$ 8.9-billion profit. In the same year CEO Severin Schwan earned US$ 12-million. It is highly plausible that Roche could cut the price of trastuzumab dramatically and still be very profitable.
