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Germany Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report Q1 2011
Business Monitor International, Nov 2010, Pages: 96
Germany Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, pharmaceutical associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Germany's pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry.
While many industries may see only limited downside risks from the Eurozone crisis, the pharmaceutical industry is facing considerable pressures. The structure of pharmaceutical payments in Europe makes the industry more vulnerable to fiscal austerity measures than elsewhere. Europe is renowned for having heavily government-financed pharmaceutical spending compared with many emerging markets. As a result, governments have a vested interest in tightly controlling pharmaceutical prices, a factor that has been present for many years. However, as predicted by BMI, the dire fiscal situations facing many of these countries have necessitated a major acceleration in the introduction of harsher price erosion mechanisms across Europe.
In BMI’s Business Environment Ratings for Q111, Germany has lost its position as the most attractive pharmaceutical market in Western Europe, out of the ten countries surveyed, falling to fifth place. The German government remains committed to its fiscal austerity programme, through which Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is planning to cut spending by some EUR80bn (US$110) over the four years to 2014. Drug prices have increasingly become an area of government focus and aside from longterm measures currently under discussion, short-term measures such as compulsory discounts and a price freeze are also being considered.
Despite the threat of austerity measures and the impact of generic competition as a result of the patent cliff, BMI expect the country to remain attractive to innovative drugmakers. In 2009, Germany's drug market was the third largest globally after the US and China. Furthermore, per-capita spending is high, there is a sizeable pensionable population and regulations are transparent.
With regards to generic competition, it was revealed in October 2010 that a number of generic drugmakers have launched copies of AstraZeneca's top-selling heartburn and ulcer treatment Nexium (esomeprazole) in Germany, in a move that will hit the revenues earned from the drug in Europe's biggest pharmaceutical market.
A spokesperson for the Anglo-Swedish company said it was aware that generic copies of Nexium were available on the German drug market, but that there are no details available on how many versions of the drug have been launched. According to Reuters, generic versions of esomeprazole, manufactured by four different companies, have reached the market. Additionally, German generic drugs group Ratiopharm, now part of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, launched its version of the drug in September at a discount of more than 60% on the original product.
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