15 percent increase in spending on patent-protected drugs

02.02.2010 15:31

Pro Generika eV on the “number of the month”

The figures from the independent market research institute IMS HEALTH speak for themselves: The patent-protected medicines have increased the pharmaceutical expenditure of the statutory health insurance (GKV) more than ever. From January to November 2009, doctors prescribed around 50.3 million packs of these medications to those insured by statutory health insurance.

This means a sales increase of 6.4 percent compared to the same period last year. However, sales of these products rose significantly faster than the volume. In the period from January to November 2009, health insurance companies spent around 9.14 billion euros on patent-protected medicines, 1.196 billion euros more than in the same period last year. This corresponds to an increase in spending of a whopping 15 percent.

Since the rate of increase in sales more than doubles the rate of increase in sales, patent-protected preparations have become significantly more expensive on average. By November 2009, statutory health insurance companies had to spend 35 percent of their drug expenditure on these drugs. However, patent-protected products only accounted for 8.2 percent of all medications dispensed at the expense of health insurance companies. The fact that the increase in spending in the overall statutory health insurance market up to November 2009 amounted to a moderate 4.9 percent net - after deducting manufacturer and pharmacy discounts, but without taking into account patient co-payments and returns from discount contracts - is solely due to generics owe.

While their share of sales in the statutory health insurance market increased from 60 percent to 62 percent compared to the period from January to November 2008, with an increase of 18.9 million packs, the proportion of health insurance companies' pharmaceutical expenditure on high-quality but inexpensive generics remained constant to just 28 percent. Overall, according to projections by IMS HEALTH based on list prices, the GKV saved around eight billion euros last year through the use of generics. In addition, there are reliefs from discount agreements, the exact amount of which cannot yet be quantified.