Advertisement

Berlin aims to end big pharma's price monopoly

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Berlin aims to end big pharma's price monopoly
Photo: DPA

Germany's government moved on Tuesday to break drug makers' grip on prices with a bill aimed at saving the creaking health care system about €2 billion a year.

Advertisement

Currently, drug makers are able to name any price they wish for as long as a medicine is under patent, but now the firms will have to do more to prove that a drug offers benefits over what is already on the market.

The change will also force the firms to negotiate prices with Germany's many health insurers, which are on course to run up an €11 billion deficit next year.

The move is part of a planned root-and-branch reform of German healthcare by Chancellor Angela Merkel's eight-month-old coalition as it seeks to cut spending and achieve a balanced budget by 2016.

Earlier this month she unveiled more than €80 billion worth of spending cuts, but plans on where exactly money will be saved remain vague and she has ruled out raising taxes.

The bill is due to go before parliament later this summer and the government hopes it will take effect by the end of the year.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also