Status: 11/17/2022 2:51 p.m
For the last ten years, new drugs in particular have contributed to the manufacturers’ sales growth – but less and less to the supply. This shows an analysis of the AOK. In 2021 alone, health insurance companies spent almost nine percent more on medicines.
According to a survey by the AOK, the statutory health insurance funds spent almost nine percent more on pharmaceuticals than a year earlier. The Federal Association of General Local Health Insurance Funds (AOK) in Berlin announced that net expenditure rose by 8.8 percent to 50.2 billion euros in 2021.
The AOK recorded above-average increases in its drug compass 2022 for patent-protected drugs, drugs for rare diseases, also known as “orphan drugs”, and biological agents. “These three market segments are characterized by the fact that a lot of money is spent on a small number of medicines, from which few people ultimately benefit,” criticized Helmut Schröder, deputy managing director of the AOK’s scientific institute.
New funds with no added benefit
Last year, patent-protected medicines achieved sales of 27.5 billion euros in statutory health insurance. This means that more than every second euro of the drug costs was spent in this area – measured in terms of the prescribed daily doses, however, only six and a half percent of the supply went to patent-protected drugs. “For ten years now, new drugs in particular have been driving sales growth, but at the same time they are contributing less and less to supply,” says the analysis.
New drugs are not necessarily better, it said: For 61.5 percent of patients, new drugs would not bring any additional benefit. “This means that a large number of complex research projects in the pharmaceutical industry do not lead to improved care until a new drug is introduced,” criticized Schröder. The majority of new drugs are without additional benefit for patients compared to comparative therapies.
“Finally abolish exemptions for orphan drugs”
He called on politicians to “finally abolish exemptions for orphan drugs and thus improve the quality of care”. Sabine Richard, managing director of supply at the AOK Federal Association, demanded a reduction in VAT to seven percent on medicines.
She criticized the fact that manufacturers could set the prices for their new medicines for half a year. The price reductions expected from the second half of the year would probably be priced in beforehand. Richard therefore advocated setting the negotiated reimbursement amount retrospectively from the market launch.
The AOK sees the recently passed law for the financial stabilization of statutory health insurance, which provides for a higher additional contribution and savings on medicines, among other things, as a step in the right direction. Overall, however, it falls short. The health insurer reiterated the long-standing demand for an end to the free pricing of medicines by pharmaceutical companies.