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Vaccine research and production: Europe is in the lead

Europe is in the lead when it comes to vaccines: This area covers two-thirds of industrial research and development activities, 60 percent of the employees and even 90 percent of worldwide production. A total of 84 percent of the European production is exported, half of it for humanitarian projects in developing countries. more

More than 100 diseases to be better treatable by 2011

Drug sample for a clinical trial (© Amgen)

By the end of 2011, research-based pharmaceutical companies can obtain marketing authorization for 358 new pharmaceuticals or applications for existing drugs. Patients suffering from more than 100 different diseases, especially cancer patients for whom more than 25% of the new pharmaceuticals are developed, will be able to benefit from this development. These are results of a survey commissioned by the VFA. more

Innovative pharmaceuticals are kept from millions of patients

Millions of patients suffer from supply deficits

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. more

Strict rules for publication of post-marketing surveillance studies

Post-marketing surveillance studies: indispensable instrument in pharmaceutical research

In the future, the pharmaceutical companies organized in the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA) will conduct and publish post-marketing surveillance studies according to stricter standards. As the VFA announced today, the companies have made this voluntary commitment on their own accord. more

IW survey on "Germany's future industries"

High-throughput screening roboter in Wuppertal/Germany (© Bayer)

The three industries of "Corporate Services," "Pharmaceuticals" and "Medical, Measuring and Control Technology" have the best future prospects out of 34 analyzed German industries. They benefit most strongly from expected technological and societal changes and have the best growth and development prospects. This is the result of the study "Germany's Future Industries" by Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln Consult GmbH (Cologne Institute of the German Economy) on behalf of the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA). more

Lessons from the Thalidomide Disaster

The greatest pharmaceuticals tragedy ever to take place occurred fifty years ago this year, when the sleeping pill and tranquillizer Thalidomide came onto the market. In the years that followed it caused serious deformities in children whose mothers had taken the drug during pregnancy. Many of them died. Both the pharmaceuticals industry and legislators learned lessons from this tragedy. The safety tests that a new drug is required to undergo before it can be administered to humans were made much more stringent. more

R&D Pharmaceutical Industry committed to improving health in Africa

Medical aid project in Africa (© GlaxoSmithKline)

The research-based pharmaceutical companies have long played a key role in international aid partnerships to improve health in Africa. Not only do they supply the latest medicines for diseases like HIV/ AIDS at cost and help African companies to manufacture them locally, they also donate others for tropical diseases in huge quantities. Furthermore, they also run numerous training programs for medical staff and public education campaigns. Their actions touch and improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people. more

Health care reform 2007

What do patients have to expect?

On April 1, 2007, the "Act for the Enhancement of Competition in Statutory Health Insurance" (SHI Competition Enhancement Act) will become effective in Germany. This reform will result in several structural changes for the financing of the German health care system:

Beginning in 2009, the statutory health insurance funds will be financed through a so-called "health fund." It will be supported from the contributions of insured patients and employers and co-financing from tax revenues. In addition, the statutory health insurance funds may charge their insured patients an individual flat fee not to exceed 1% of their income. more

New pharmaceuticals achieved medical breakthroughs in 2006

Key medical breakthroughs in 2006 (Photo: © Roche)

With regard to innovation, the VFA draws a positive conclusion for the year now ending: In 2006, research-based pharmaceutical companies facilitated great medical progress based on novel medication. For example, girls and women can prevent cervical cancer through vaccination for the first time. Patients suffering from renal cell cancer or chronic hepatitis B can be treated much more effectively than in the past. Two new antibiotics eliminate bacteria that have already grown resistant to other drugs. more

The fight against tropical poverty-related diseases is worth the effort

Millions of children suffer from poverty-related diseases
(© GlaxoSmithKline)

Representatives from the Joint Conference on Church and Development (GKKE) and the research-based pharmaceutical industry acknowledged today in Berlin their responsibility in the fight against tropical poverty-related diseases and outlined how help could be provided to developing countries in this respect. "What's necessary is a collaboration that also includes the governments of the affected countries and the institutions of development cooperation apart from the churches and pharmaceutical companies," said the chairman of GKKE, Prelate Dr. Karl Jüsten. more

VFA Report on Quality of Life in 2006: Germany clearly lags behind in a European comparison

Report: Lost decade for German population

The quality of life of the German population has significantly deteriorated in a European comparison. This was the result of the VFA Report on Quality of Life in 2006, which was presented during a press conference in Berlin today. On behalf of the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA), the Mannheim Center for European Social Research (MZES) and the Center for Surveys, Methods and Analyses (ZUMA) investigated the development of the quality of life in Germany. more

Industry and physicians want to use European regulatory framework

More studies with minors expected

The new European directive on children's pharmaceuticals, which became effective on January 1, 2007, must be rated as a great success for the pharmaceutical safety of children and adolescents. This is the unanimous sentiment of the German Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ) and the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA). This directive will help children and adolescents obtain more specially approved pharmaceuticals. more

Pharmaceutical Atlas shakes up common myths regarding pharmaceutical spending in statutory health insurance

Pharmaceutical Atlas: Structural changes in markets are caused by better pharmaceutical care
(Photo &copy Takeda Pharma)

The theory that statutory health insurance is burdened with unnecessary spending amounts worth billions, because physicians prescribe expensive innovative pharmaceuticals with no additional medical benefit, is no longer tenable. This theory was based on the so-called structural component of the Arzneiverordnungs-Report (Pharmaceutical Prescription Report - PPR). more

The year of vaccines

Flu cell culture: Production of vaccines in Marburg/Germany
Photo: © Novartis/Chiron

Never before have so many new vaccines received marketing authorization in a single year as in 2006. For the first time, preventative vaccinations are now possible for three diseases: diarrhea from rotaviruses, herpes zoster and - the latest - for cervical cancer. In addition, vaccines have become available this year that simultaneously protect from mumps, measles, rubella and chickenpox. Previously, simultaneous protection was only possible for mumps, measles and rubella, and an additional vaccination was required against chickenpox. more

Aid programs and pharmaceuticals for HIV-infected children

HIV infection affects not just many adults but also children: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 700,000 children under the age of 15 worldwide currently require medication for their infection, most of them in developing countries. "Pharmaceutical companies do three things to provide help in this respect: They develop pharmaceuticals especially for children, make them available in developing countries on special terms and support local projects for improved medical care," said Cornelia Yzer, director general of the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA) prior to the International AIDS Conference beginning on August 13, 2006, in Toronto. more

National Study Register obstructs transparency instead of promoting it

"Isolated national solutions in registering clinical trials won't create transparency for physicians, patients and the health care system but obstruct it, because they fragment the information. Those who wish to make the latest findings on each pharmaceutical available must rely on international databases," Cornelia Yzer, director general of the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA), replied to today's demand for a national study register lodged by the Study Registration Initiative of the German Cochrane Center. more

Tens of thousands of additional jobs in the pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry in Germany has the potential of creating tens of thousands of additional jobs over the next 10 to 15 years, including many academic and highly qualified vocational positions. However, this job potential can only be tapped based on targeted measures to strengthen Germany as an industrial location. This is the result of two surveys on Germany as a site for the pharmaceutical industry, one of which was conducted by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, while the other was done by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). more

Better pharmaceutical care increases pharmaceutical spending

Cornelia Yzer: "Spending will increase when deficits are eliminated."

"With improved care, spending will increase. And as long as a pharmaceutical care deficit must be overcome for many therapeutic indications, increasing pharmaceutical expenses are inevitable. However, this also means that patients are provided with drugs that are at the cutting edge of medical care. In this respect, many care deficits are yet to be eliminated," Cornelia Yzer, director general of the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies (VFA), commented on the current spending figures for pharmaceuticals. more

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News

Expense forecast:
Increase for medical reasons

G8 summit:
Setting the correct course for combating AIDS in Africa

Cost-Benefit Assessment in Germany:
Orientation by international standards

Publications

Statistics 2009 (English) The pharmaceutical industry in Germany; Facts & Figures

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