德国药物公司通过向健康保险支付基金而避免药价削减
FRANKFURT (Reuters Health) - One cornerstone of the German Health Ministry's legislation plan to cut drug costs in Germany has been removed after drug manufacturers agreed to make a one-time payment of 400 million German marks to the state-backed health insurance fund.
The drug bill, currently under consideration in Parliament, is meant to ease the growing burden of drug prices on state-backed health insurance funds by cutting prices by 1.0 billion to 1.5 billion euros (1.95 billion to 2.93 billion marks) in 2002 and 2003.
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Now dropped is a proposal to require drug companies to cut by 4% the regulated price of on-patent drugs for a 2-year period.
The German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA) had strongly opposed the price reduction, going so far as to offer instead a one-time payment to be deposited into the accounts of state-backed health insurance funds.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Health Minister Ulla Schmidt and other top government officials met Thursday evening with drug company representatives to discuss the offer, according to statement from the VFA.
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Afterwards, Uwe-Karsten Heye, a spokesman for Schroeder, announced that the government had accepted the payment and, in return, had agreed not force a reduction in brandname drug prices at least through 2003.
Marc Rath, a spokesman for the Berlin-based VFA, told Reuters Health the agreement is in the interests of both the drug industry and the government. He said the government had expected state-backed health insurance companies to save 500 million marks with the 4% reduction in brandname prices over the next two years. The 400 million marks paid upfront is comparable to 500 million marks spread out through 2003, he said.
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However, the savings to the drug companies from paying 400 million marks rather than cutting prices will be substantial, he said, noting that the 4% cuts would have ended up costing the industry nearly 1 billion marks over the two years.
Rath added that if prices had come down in Germany, the companies probably would have been forced to cut foreign prices as well, for a further loss of 1 billion marks.
Still to be debated on the Health Ministry's bill is a controversial proposal to require doctors to automatically prescribe generic versions of drugs to patients with state-backed health insurance and pharmacists to fill the prescriptions with generics in a certain price range. Rath said his organization opposes the generic proposal, which he asserts would cost brandname companies substantial sums of money. However, the VFA has not offered a payment to the government to kill the plan.
, 百拇医药
Surprisingly, leading generic drug companies have also opposed the measure, fearing it will lead to a price war. Associations representing the generic industry have offered to cut regulated prices by 3%.
Also at issue are rebates paid by pharmacies to state-backed health companies. Currently, pharmacies pay a 5% rebate on drugs prescribed to patients covered by state-backed health companies. The bill proposes raising that to 6%., 百拇医药
The drug bill, currently under consideration in Parliament, is meant to ease the growing burden of drug prices on state-backed health insurance funds by cutting prices by 1.0 billion to 1.5 billion euros (1.95 billion to 2.93 billion marks) in 2002 and 2003.
, 百拇医药
Now dropped is a proposal to require drug companies to cut by 4% the regulated price of on-patent drugs for a 2-year period.
The German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA) had strongly opposed the price reduction, going so far as to offer instead a one-time payment to be deposited into the accounts of state-backed health insurance funds.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Health Minister Ulla Schmidt and other top government officials met Thursday evening with drug company representatives to discuss the offer, according to statement from the VFA.
, 百拇医药
Afterwards, Uwe-Karsten Heye, a spokesman for Schroeder, announced that the government had accepted the payment and, in return, had agreed not force a reduction in brandname drug prices at least through 2003.
Marc Rath, a spokesman for the Berlin-based VFA, told Reuters Health the agreement is in the interests of both the drug industry and the government. He said the government had expected state-backed health insurance companies to save 500 million marks with the 4% reduction in brandname prices over the next two years. The 400 million marks paid upfront is comparable to 500 million marks spread out through 2003, he said.
, 百拇医药
However, the savings to the drug companies from paying 400 million marks rather than cutting prices will be substantial, he said, noting that the 4% cuts would have ended up costing the industry nearly 1 billion marks over the two years.
Rath added that if prices had come down in Germany, the companies probably would have been forced to cut foreign prices as well, for a further loss of 1 billion marks.
Still to be debated on the Health Ministry's bill is a controversial proposal to require doctors to automatically prescribe generic versions of drugs to patients with state-backed health insurance and pharmacists to fill the prescriptions with generics in a certain price range. Rath said his organization opposes the generic proposal, which he asserts would cost brandname companies substantial sums of money. However, the VFA has not offered a payment to the government to kill the plan.
, 百拇医药
Surprisingly, leading generic drug companies have also opposed the measure, fearing it will lead to a price war. Associations representing the generic industry have offered to cut regulated prices by 3%.
Also at issue are rebates paid by pharmacies to state-backed health companies. Currently, pharmacies pay a 5% rebate on drugs prescribed to patients covered by state-backed health companies. The bill proposes raising that to 6%., 百拇医药