BPI: Measures endanger critical infrastructure!
16.03.2022 10:10
On March 16, 2022, the draft of a statutory health insurance financing law was announced. The proposed cost-containment measures in the pharmaceutical sector come at an absolutely inopportune time, according to the German Pharmaceutical Industry Association (BPI): "Especially in the current situation, in which we are facing massive supply difficulties, are urgently dependent on the development of new medications, and are additionally facing supply difficulties due to the war in Ukraine, any further burden is irresponsible!" says BPI Chairman Dr. Hans Georg Feldmeier.
The interplay of various regulatory interventions such as discounts, fixed amounts, and rebates is already increasingly depriving pharmaceutical companies of the ability to refinance the growing number of tasks and expenses. This is happening in an ongoing pandemic that clearly demonstrates every day how important research, development, and production of pharmaceuticals are in all sectors, Feldmeier said. "It is incomprehensible that, under these circumstances, the price moratorium in place since 2009 is now to be extended, even though relief is planned in other industries, particularly due to exploding energy and transport costs. We are the only industry that cannot pass on cost increases, and this is an untenable situation." Even at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the domestic pharmaceutical industry closed gaps in global supply disruptions and secured supplies, Feldmeier said. "We were apparently good enough for politicians, but that's quickly forgotten! I would point out that, after taxes and trade levels, pharmaceuticals only account for around 11 percent of statutory health insurance (SHI) expenditures, meaning they are not the decisive cost factor in the system. Furthermore, health insurance funds are now saving around five billion euros annually through discount agreements alone," Feldmeier said. "Added to this are savings of around 1.4 billion euros annually through mandatory discounts and around 8 billion euros through the fixed amounts that have been in place for 30 years. And let's not forget the AMNOG (Medical Act on the Use of Drugs and Pharmaceuticals), which saved over 4.7 billion euros in 2021 alone."
Against this background, the BPI chairman also considers the proposed application of the AMNOG reimbursement price from the seventh month and the weakening of the orphan drug status in the draft law to be fatal signals: "New medicines must continue to be available quickly in Germany. The current coronavirus crisis demonstrates how important a system open to innovation is for this. Instead of making cuts at this crucial point, the minister should first put forward a proposal on how we can secure our pharmaceutical supply, especially in light of the unstable supply chains worldwide and the sharply rising costs of research, development, and production. We will only be able to meet the challenges in supply and secure supply chains if there are reliable framework conditions and adequate prices for all drug therapies," Feldmeier said. "Germany needs an independent pharmaceutical supply. And for this, we need high-performance pharmaceutical production in Germany and the EU. Critical infrastructure must not be destroyed. The lack of funding for defense and the sometimes naive energy supply currently show us how seriously we must take critical infrastructure."