Innovative pharmaceuticals are kept from millions of patients

The Institute of Empirical Health Economics was commissioned by the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA) to develop an expert report on the pharmaceutical care situation in Germany. The results have shown alarming health care gaps: Millions of German patients are affected by a striking pharmaceutical supply deficit.

Three out of 10 examples from the survey: Currently, one million people suffering from dementia are living in Germany. The care deficit with anti-dementia drugs for the affected patients is 74%. For rheumatoid arthritis, which affects up to 800,000 people domestically, a care deficit of 69% must be assumed, while the care deficit with the recommended medication for up to six million osteoporosis patients in Germany is 51%.

Cornelia Yzer, Director General of the VFA: "Care deficits are not an impression but an empirically provable fact. If we want to eliminate care deficits, we must eliminate physicians' budgetary constraints. And the health insurance funds must be prepared to spend more money on innovative pharmaceuticals."

"The numbers prove that continued economizing is done at the expense of the people," Yzer continued. "Our health insurance system must be able to provide patients with services whose quality and effectiveness match the acknowledged state of medical findings. However, this can only succeed if we give physicians enough room for adequate pharmaceutical therapy. Currently, based on the necessity of restrictive prescription behavior, doctors are driven into a dilemma that negatively impacts patients and doesn't really help the health insurance funds in their savings effort."

The "Expert Report on Pharmaceutical Care Deficits in Germany," developed by the Institute of Empirical Health Economics under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Dr. med. Reinhard Rychlik, as well as other materials are available for downloading at: http://www.vfa.de/pk20070523

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