Doctors president wants further intervention in drug pricing

Doctors president Montgomery calls for harsher intervention in drug pricing
Drug expenditure reached a new record high in Germany last year. According to experts, cost drivers are in particular expensive innovative medicines for hepatitis C and combination therapies for cancer. Physician president Frank Ulrich Montgomery has now called for further intervention in the design of drug prices.

Drug expenditure in Germany is rising and rising
Germany's doctors prescribe more and more drugs. Also the medicament expenditures of the health insurance companies increased drastically in the past years nationwide. In 2015, according to the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), a new record high had been achieved in pharmaceutical expenditures. Cost drivers are above all expensive innovative medicines for hepatitis C and combination therapies for cancer. Not all experts agree on how costs can be reduced. Doctors President Frank Ulrich Montgomery is now calling for further intervention in shaping drug prices in Germany.

Doctors President Montgomery has called for further intervention in the design of drug prices in Germany. Companies should not "over-enrich". (Image: ExQuisine / fotolia.com)

It must not be that companies "over-enrich"
According to a report by the dts news agency, Montgomery said in an interview with the news magazine "Focus": "It's unacceptable that firms that develop new drugs in a socially-linked system are over-enriched." The proposals of Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe (CDU ) do not go far enough for the medical president: "We need more extensive answers," says Montgomery. "But they are unlikely to please the pharmaceutical industry," he continued. "We call for the abolition of free market-only pricing in the first year after the industry launches." Health Minister Gröhe is said to set a threshold for expensive new medicines: if the sales value in the first year after approval is higher Therefore, retroactively the cheaper reimbursement price applies. However, the minister has not yet decided definitively on the amount of this value. (Ad)