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According to the South African Head and Neck Oncology Society (SAHNOS), head and neck cancers represent 5% of all cancers in South Africa. Whilst this number may seem small, a study by the South African Medical Research Council in South Africa, predicts cancer cases are estimated to rise to 1 056 000 by the year 2020. In addition, overall survival of head and neck cancers has not improved, as these tumours spread easily. 

Since launching in 2017, the Leksell Gamma Knife Icon (Gamma Knife) radiosurgery technology at Netcare Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg has helped more than 148 patients requiring treatment for brain, head or neck tumors. 

The cutting-edge, less-invasive technology is a first for the Southern Hemisphere and fourth globally, and was introduced to South Africa by Gamma Knife SA – – a collaboration between Eurolab, a local market-leading oncology company and Netcare, South Africa’s largest private hospital group.  

The Gamma Knife delivers exceptional precision and accuracy, using 192 radiation beams generated which are targeted to a specific area, affected by a tumour. Its ability to focus on an exact target ensures that the risk of the inaccuracies and radiation affecting healthy tissue are minimal. 

Lynne du Toit, CEO of Eurolab, says the Gamma Knife places South Africa on the map to providing patients with the benefits of a less surgically-invasive treatment, which has already treated over one million patients around the world, and makes cancer treatment more affordable to South Africans. 

“This world-class technology has already started changing the lives of South Africans living with cancer, and it is these patients that drive everything we do at Eurolab,” says du Toit. “Our whole-of-cancer approach focuses on the patient, their health, and relieving their financial stress, during and after their life-threatening illness.” 

In comparison to traditional radiation approaches, the benefits to Gamma Knife treatment are substantial. The treatment spares surrounding healthy tissue and provides higher and more effective treatment doses in fewer sessions resulting in reduced patient recovery time. 

A patient’s individual Gamma Knife treatment plan is formulated by a specialised team of doctors and is usually completed in a few hours, with little to no side effects. 

“With high costs associated to travelling abroad, South African patients no longer have to travel overseas to receive this advanced radiosurgery treatment. Eurolab offers an uncompromising commitment to our whole-of-cancer approach, including investing in bringing the Gamma Knife to South Africa, in partnership with Netcare,” says du Toit. 

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The post Affordable, first-world head and neck cancer treatment in reach for South Africans Oncology patients to benefit from less surgically-invasive cancer treatment first appeared on Eurolab.

According to the World Health Organisation, tobacco use is the most important risk factor for cancer and is responsible for approximately 22% of cancer deaths. Smoking causes cancers of the lung, oesophagus, larynx, mouth and throat to name a few. 

“Quitting smoking is one of the most preventative causes of cancer and will reduce your risk, especially for lung cancer,” says Lynne du Toit, Eurolab Group CEO. “The chemicals found in cigarettes have been shown to damage our DNA and damaged cells will eventually cause cancer.”

After being diagnosed with cancer, quitting smoking can make a dramatic difference, and improve the effectiveness of your treatment. For example, smoking can cause the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation far worse than they already are. However, if you quit smoking before treatment, the side effects have been known to be like that of non-smokers. 

There are several organisations and tools available to those that want to quit smoking including, nicotine replacement products, behavioural therapy, medication or some go cold turkey, with no help. 

“The risk factors of smoking far outweigh the potential harmful effects and the new proposals to the smoking laws recently announced by the department of health is a step in the right direction in helping reduce tabacco-caused diseases,” says du Toit. 

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Stepping Stone Hospice provides high-quality specialist care to people in the greater Alberton area, most of whom are cancer patients whose conditions no longer respond to curative treatment. These patients are cared for by specially trained nurses, care workers and counsellors. 

Tersia Burger, CEO of Stepping Stone Hospice, says that their fundraising efforts have been geared towards extending the IPU to allow for more patients to receive necessary medical, physical, social and emotional support. 

“Most people choose to receive hospice care in their homes. However, when pain cannot be managed in the home, patients can choose to receive care in our in-patient hospice unit,” says Burger. “We are extremely grateful to Eurolab for its support of our project, which will benefit the quality of life for our patients. We share a common ethos with Eurolab in that our patients are our main focus, so every donation we receive helps keep our doors open.”

As a market-leading oncology company, Eurolab continues to explore outreach support for communities that provide care and support for cancer patients. 

“Our vision aligns with Stepping Stone Hospice as we have a whole-of-cancer approach that focuses on the patient and their health, relieving financial stress during and after a life-threatening illness,” says Lynne du Toit, CEO at Eurolab. “As a South African company specialising in all aspects of cancer treatment, therapies and technologies, we believe it is our responsibility to support care centres where possible.”

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This is true. Pharmaceutical companies create what are known as clones of their own products – sometimes manufactured on the same production line as the original product and then branded and labelled differently, or produced to the same formula by an outsourced manufacturer. 

They still hold the patent to these clones, and price them slightly below the original product, in order to compete with the generic products that generic manufacturers can produce once the patent on a product has expired. 

Generic producers procure dossiers from Dossier developers around the world for these patented molecules before the patents expire, and establish the feasibility of producing generic versions. 

Producers of clone medications and generic medications are still compelled to pay for comparative studies and other supporting research and documentation before the medications can be approved by the Medicines Controls Council. 

However, clone producers already hold much of that documentation because they hold the original patent, putting generic producers at a disadvantage because clone products can actually be marketed before the patents expire and therefore get to market more quickly, and are established as an alternative to the originals in the minds of medical professionals often long before generics appear on the market. 

To give you an idea of how pricing works, a typical original oncology medication would cost R1 789.00 Its clone would sell for R774.00 Eurolab’s generic version of that product sells for R245.10 – an 86% saving compared to the original product and a 68% saving compared to the clone product.

2. How does this affect competition in the market?

Clones tend to make it to market before generics do, and many doctors prefer to prescribe clones rather than generics, because they already have a relationship with the original pharmaceutical brand. 

This established relationship also makes it challenging for generic producers to build relationships with medical professionals, and we typically have to invest significantly more in marketing and brand building than the clone products do. 

There are also medical professionals who refuse to prescribe generics, unless instructed to by medical aids – which means generic producers have to invest in substantial communication initiatives with medical aids. 

The loser in all of this is the patient, who is compelled to pay unnecessary or excessive amounts for medication that could improve their quality of life, or indeed save their life. 

3. Are there any regulations in place to monitor or prevent this?

All clone and generic medications are subject to the same rigorous approvals process put in place by the Medicines Control Council, the Pharma companies who hold the patents are not prevented from launching their own clones before the patent expires. There are also no pricing restrictions when a company launches a product.

4. How does this affect companies who specialise in generic medication?

There are times when generic medication producers simply cannot compete with clones, for various reasons, among them the manufacturing efficiencies of large-scale production facilities that supply whole continents, compared to our operation that only produces for South Africa. 

Furthermore, at Eurolab, in order to provide our patients with cost effective, premium quality generic oncology products locally, we have to import all of the molecules, which places us (and the patients who use our products) at the mercy of fluctuating exchange rates. 

5. How can consumers distinguish between a pseudo-generic and a true generic?

To be clear – the industry norms are patented products, clones, and generics. Typically, the only way a patient would be able to know or find out the difference would be if their doctor explains that they are prescribing a clone or a generic, or if the pharmacist asks the patient’s permission to dispense a clone or a generic. The pharmacist may still need to obtain the doctor’s permission thereafter, if the doctor had insisted on ‘no substitute’ on the prescription.

6. What are your concluding comments?

There’s no doubt patent-holding pharmaceutical companies are overcharging for their products. For example, Thalidomide was a cheap product in its first iteration in the 1960’s before it was withdrawn, but is now one of the most expensive oncology drugs available – well beyond the means of most South Africans. This is the same drug, used for a different purpose – but with a ridiculously inflated price. 

Pharmaceutical companies have valid cause to recover the tremendous costs associated with research and development, trials and testing, but they do engage in dubious practices to extend their exclusivity over a product, such as releasing different formats of a medication to extend the life of a patent – for example releasing a different strength or formulation change, just before the patent on the original product expires. 

We always ask how this impacts the patient, and the greater good that could be achieved by a product – rather than focusing on the pure profitability of a product. 

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