Reorganization of the drug market approved

Federal Cabinet agrees to the reorganization of the drug market.

(30.06.2010) The Federal Cabinet has approved the bill to restructure the pharmaceutical market (AMNOG). As a result, the Federal Government expects more competition in the pharmaceutical market and more transparency for the health insured. In addition, of course, costs in the health system should be saved. In the future, pharmaceutical companies will have to prove the actual benefit of a new product more precisely and negotiate a price with the health insurance companies within one year at the latest.

It took a long time for the Federal Minister of Health Philipp Rösler (FDP) has ever initiated a reform. Now, Rösler has actually managed to pave the way for a change in the pharmaceutical market. This is intended to reduce the escalating costs of medicines in the pharmaceutical market. As the Minister of Health said, "The bill has ushered in fundamental structural changes in the drug market while achieving the difficult balance between innovation and affordability."

The bill is intended to bring about deregulation of the pharmaceutical market. Around two billion euros are to be saved in health care every year. Because the prices for medicines have almost exploded in Germany in recent years. For example, a study of the health insurance KKH demonstrated after each of the 30 patent-protected drugs in Germany are more expensive than in the other countries in Europe. This is because in other European countries prices are negotiated with the state. Only in Germany was one so far on the "self-regulation of the market" and saw itself thereby exposed to increasing costs. Here, too, the fundamental problem of public health insurance should be hidden. Many health insurances have been complaining for a long time about ever increasing costs, especially in the pharmaceutical sector.

At the center of the pact is the negotiation of drug prices. In addition, the pharmaceutical company must demonstrate the true benefits of a new drug. Within one year, the drug manufacturers must negotiate with the health insurance companies about the price. If no agreement is reached, a central arbitration board with effect from the thirteenth month after market launch shall decide on the price of medicines. Medication that is not an additional benefit should receive at most as much as a comparable drug.

New rules should also apply to discount agreements for patent-free and active substance-like medicines (generics). Here, a patient should find more friendly regulation. This means that as part of the "aut idem" regimen, patients may retain their usual drug regimen if they are pre-paid. For example, insured persons could also choose medicines that are not covered by a discount agreement. Nobody really knows that these new regulations took so long. The Federal Government would only have had to orient itself by examples in the European neighborhood, where the pharmaceutical market has long since been regulated. Now the bill still has to pass the Bundestag. (Sb)

Also read:
Health system: Rösler presents savings plans
Health costs: reorganization of the pharmaceutical market?