Quick Fixes Do Not Help Sick People

 

On March 10, 2010 Federal Health Minister Rösler expressed a few ideas in the BILD newspaper for savings in the pharmaceutical sector. Cornelia Yzer, director general of the vfa, the German Association of Research-based Pharmaceutical Companies, warns against “burning“ money on the German health system with the help of planned economic instruments.

In an interview with journalists in Berlin, she took the following stance on Rösler’s comments:

“We read Minister Rösler’s ideas in the press today with great interest. I believe that the minister still needs to more clearly define his model, for until now, we have read the headlines, but haven’t seen any concrete concept. As researching pharmaceutical companies, we have always said that something in the health system must take place which guarantees that sick people will also be able to profit from medical progress in the future. We have made concrete proposals in order that this can come about.

We stand for a cost-benefit analysis of medicines, which must be taken seriously. A serious cost-benefit analysis, implemented according to international standards, would show that the benefits of a medicine are worth its price. The prices of pharmaceuticals in other European countries are incidentally not lower than in Germany. On the contrary, Germany is positioned more or less in the European center. But when we look at pharmacy prices, we shouldn’t forget that the state cashes in substantially as well: 19 percent value-added tax, which is practically unparalleled in Europe.

We bring top level medicines to Germany and are convinced of the benefits of our pharmaceuticals. We can therefore justify their price and are willing to undergo evaluations to demonstrate this.

Furthermore, we believe that in the future manufacturers and health insurance companies should conclude contracts directly with each other, an idea which must swiftly get under way. This is new. We want contracts which guarantee cost-effectiveness, and which primarily address the quality of the provisions.

Quick fixes and guesstimates in terms of benefit analyses may delight savings tsars, but they cannot help sick individuals. I ask therefore that we please find methods which are aimed at quality and not just at price.

By the way, I would like to point out that in the last two years, the researching pharmaceutical companies have been an anchor of stability in Germany during the economic crisis. We have kept our jobs secure and have brought investment to Germany. Health politicians should not now decide to regulate a future-oriented industry retrospectively to the crisis.

If we have learned anything in the German health system in the last 20 years, it is that the best way to burn money is through a planned economy. Politicians must therefore decide whether they want a planned economy, or a competitive one."