New medications are often not better

New drugs are rarely better in principle

05/11/2013

Year after year, the number of approved medicines in Germany increases. For new medicines the proof of an additional benefit is demanded by the medicament law. Initial evaluations showed that only one out of five new products was significantly better.

Rarely additional benefit from new drugs
For drug manufacturers, the Drug Reorganization Act (Amnog) has created pressure to prove that a newly approved drug is better than the one previously available on the market. With this relatively new law, which came into force in 2011, the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA), the highest body in the health sector, which includes representatives of doctors, health insurance companies and clinics. The G-BA has now taken stock of the situation and concludes that although two out of three new medicines help to combat serious illnesses (such as cancer, diabetes or high blood pressure) better than the previous ones, there is usually no significant added benefit to certify. The results of an official G-BA exam are available to the German Press Agency (dpa). Accordingly, the balance sheet is as follows: Only in seven cases out of 37 audited resources did the G-BA recognize a significant added value. For 14 others, a small additional benefit was found and in three, an undetermined additional benefit. No added value or missing complete evidence was attested to most other medications.

New drugs are almost always more expensive
Healthcare is still arguing about the assessments of these reviews. Far more numerous reviews are still pending. G-BA chairman Josef Hecken said that the ratings of his committee were fair. „In contrast to this, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry repeatedly warned against the evaluation procedures, Birgit Fischer, Managing Director of the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (vfa), said that the assessments of the supply of In reality, only a few of the innovative medicines are needed, which is justified by the fact that the G-BA, as well as testing authorities in other countries, define an added benefit with a similar number of medicines. „However, through its decision-making practice, the G-BA actually limits this added benefit to a smaller proportion of patients. "The G-BA distinguishes between the added benefit for different patient groups using the drug when evaluating a drug. for which an added benefit arises, it is kept artificially small, so a reproach Fischer.The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) finds that many drugs offered „are superfluous.“ So there are about 50,000 different medicines on the market. „Without loss of quality, their number could be reduced to 10,000.“ And a medicine report of the Barmer noted that about 40 percent of new funds „provide no additional benefit to the patient“ and only cause higher expenses. („“)

The goal is billions of dollars in savings
As a result of the new evaluations, a pharmaceutical manufacturer and health insurance companies concluded their price negotiations for the first time a year ago. The Amnog provides that only what really brings more, should cost more. Currently, the evaluation of longer on the market drugs is expected. In April, the G-BA had decided on such an examination of the so-called inventory market. Agents for the treatment of common diseases such as diabetes, depression or osteoporosis are first on the checklist. The evaluations are intended to make billions in savings, according to the political objective. The highest-earning funds under patent protection, some of which have been prescribed for millions of years, are to be audited. For the first round, remedies were selected that have a total sales volume of around five billion euros, according to Hecken. On the basis of a scientific expertise and dossiers of the producers, the G-BA puts them to the test. According to Hecken, the first dossiers have to be submitted by the companies on 15 October. (Sb)

Image: Sara Hegewald