SA PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY WOES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 003116 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2017 TAGS: ECON ETRD EINV SOCI KIPR SF SUBJECT: SA PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY WOES Classified By: CDA Teitelbaum for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (U) Summary. The pharmaceutical sector in South Africa is faltering under the SAG's current mandates and slow regulatory processes for drug and clinical trial approvals. The proposed benchmark policy for the single exit price and intellectual property right concerns are causing further jitters among the industry players. The SAG listed the pharmaceutical industry as one of its main priorities under its newly released National Industrial Policy Plan (NIPP), but without major improvements in regulatory efficiency, cost-competitiveness, and intellectual property rights (IPR), it is doubtful the sector will grow. End Summary. -------------- Pharma Industry in Precarious Position -------------- ¶2. (C) A confidential report recently prepared by Genesis Analytics Consultancy for the SAG Presidency indicates that the pharmaceutical sector is in dire need of help. The report notes that although the global pharmaceutical sector is growing at over 18 percent per year, South Africa's contribution is continuing to dwindle. Since 1994, 35 pharmaceutical plants have closed and since 2000, the total number of employees dropped from 16,000 to 11,000. As far back as 2000, a report commissioned by the National Economic Development and Labor Council (NEDLAC) stated that the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector was "in crisis - declining investment, legislative and regulatory chaos, plant closures." This situation has continued to deteriorate. Chris Maloney, co-author of the Genesis report, told Trade and Investment Officer that of the 10 remaining production facilities, only one would be considered a value-added plant. The other nine are simple assembly plants with out-sourced active ingredients. The ratio of imported to exported pharmaceuticals increased over the last 10 years from 8:1 to 17:1, which has helped turn pharmaceuticals into the 6th largest contributor to the SAG's deficit with a negative 830 million rand (119 million USD) trade balance. ¶3. (U) SA's serious skills and knowledge shortage across numerous sectors is also negatively impacting the pharmaceutical industry. Genesis reports that SA only has 50 researchers for every one million residents (compared to 700 in China or 170 in India),only 320 students graduating with pharmacy degrees each year compared to 450 a few years ago, and of those graduated pharmacists only 14 percent work in the public sector, which has 80 percent of the clients. Increased global competition has helped to increase the import market and further diminish the industries' prospects. ¶4. (U) The report, as well as local industry contacts, list several factors that have contributed to this problem. Regulatory inefficiency and lack of quality in service by the Medicines Control Council (MCC),the uncertainty of the SAG's proposed benchmark pricing policy, and intellectual property right concerns have lead to an unstable sector resulting in closed manufacturing plants and loss of investments to competitors, such as India and China. -------------- Regulatory Inefficiencies Hamper Industry -------------- ¶5. (C) The MCC, responsible for approving clinical trials and pharmaceutical market access, has created major delays and uncertainty, while new licensing regulations are causing plant closures. According to the South African office for Quintiles, a U.S. clinical trial operator, the MCC takes 6.9 months to approve clinical trials, compared to the U.S. FDA's average time of 6 weeks. These delays have caused many multinational companies to look elsewhere for clinical trials because the delay cuts too deeply into the period of time the drugs' patent is in force. According to Genesis' report, SA is losing billions of rand in lost clinical trials. ¶6. (C) The MCC's average time to register the medicines for market access stands at a lengthy 39 months, with what industry calls inefficient and unnecessary requirements that all submissions be on paper with no consideration given to whether the drug has been previously approved in other countries. Maloney noted that MCC's average time is four times best practice, mostly attributed to capacity problems. Pfizer informed Trade and Investment Officer that this delay in market access dwindles the company's effective period for sales to five years before the patent expires. The delay also negatively impacts PEPFAR's ability to issue generic ARV drugs, which have been tentatively approved by the FDA. Without MCC registration, these drugs cannot be purchased or dispensed by the program. These delays and capacity issues have been a long-standing problem. The 2000 NEDLAC report PRETORIA 00003116 002 OF 003 stated that there was an "urgent" need for the SAG to address "one of the key bottlenecks for the industry" - MCC's registration times. ¶7. (C) In addition to these persistent problems, MCC recently instituted new licensing regulations that require pharmaceutical plants to conform to the EU's Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention (PIC) standards. According to Maloney, these requirements were never passed to SA's Department of Trade and Industry to provide international companies with monetary incentives to meet these more rigorous standards and SA currently does not have any PIC experts to assist with the transition. The lack of coordination between DTI and SA's Department of Health (DOH) further muddied the sector's already confusing waters. According to press releases, at least two pharmaceutical plants have closed in the last month due to being outdated and/or out-of-compliance with PIC. -------------- Proposed Benchmark Pricing Causes Concerns -------------- ¶8. (C) In its efforts to equalize public and private sector medical care through access to good quality, affordable medicine, the MCC instituted regulations to address pharmaceutical pricing, which created a single exit pricing system. The Medicines Pricing Committee (MPC),currently evaluating the process for determining that price, has proposed a benchmark system that would look at a price basket of 5 countries - Australia, Canada, Spain, Turkey, and New Zealand - and use the lowest price. Maloney commented that the policy was devised by the MPC, whose members are mainly academics and DOH officials, without any industry players or economists, who could explain the economic impact of the pricing policy. Maloney stated that, at best, this policy would only alienate the multinational corporations; at worst, it would also alienate the generic companies whose prices will be set 40 percent less than the originator's price. In addition, Eli Lilly's Managing Director noted at a conference that the proposed benchmark companies do not suffer the same market problems, such as regulatory delays, that plague South Africa and these factors should be considered. Pfizer estimates this system could cause prices to be reduced by as much as 28 percent, a decrease it says could drive pharmaceutical companies from the market. Pfizer has also requested that New Zealand, which uses 100 percent public sector pricing, be eliminated from the basket. The uncertainty and non-transparent pricing situation has not helped calm this sector's jitters, but both generic and multinational companies are pressing the MCC to restructure the proposed benchmark process. -------------- IPR Protection a Problem -------------- ¶9. (C) Pharmaceutical patent life extensions, compulsory licensing, and data exclusivity have been contentious issues between the SAG and industry. Due to MCC regulatory delays, industry takes exception to the SAG's failure to provide extensions on the patent life for the period of time the pharmaceuticals are under review. While the SAG has never used its authority for compulsory licensing of pharmaceutical patents, the option does exist, which creates more uncertainty for pharmaceutical companies. The SAG does not provide data packaging exclusivity and enables generic companies access prior to patent expiration for regulatory approval testing purposes. This allows generic companies the opportunity to enter the market the day the patent expires. In addition, while the MCC verbally guarantees that the patent applications are held in the strictest confidence, it has not demonstrated how the patent applications are maintained. Trade and Investment Officer was told by one patent attorney that she often receives the wrong patent application back from the MCC (a supposedly confidential document) and, at other times, has been told by the MCC that her applications are missing. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) Despite the problems highlighted above, growth potential in the pharmaceutical sector does exist. Demand is rising domestically and regionally, especially for drugs to treat infectious diseases. Donations of aid money, such as from PEPFAR, are converting this need for drugs into a real demand. The SAG recognizes this potential and has listed development of the pharmaceutical industry as one of its main priorities under its newly released National Industrial Policy Plan (NIPP). However, without major improvements in regulatory efficiency, cost-competitiveness, and intellectual property rights, it is doubtful the sector will be able to PRETORIA 00003116 003 OF 003 grow. Teitelbaum