The German government on Friday adopted recommendations to include a range of drugs in a fixed price setting system as part of reforms aimed at cutting the rising healthcare costs in Europe's largest economy.
The decision, made despite strong objections from the drugs industry, means that many patented medicines will be priced closer to the level of cheaper generic alternatives.
"We need to reduce the costs of medications with comparable therapeutic effects so that genuine medicinal innovations stay affordable for patients in the future," Health Minister Ulla Schmidt said in a statement. The Ministry earlier accepted recommendations from a government-appointed panel of doctors and health insurers to include certain patented and generic drugs in one group, in spite of complaints from drugs firms which say that price limits would hurt their ability to fund expensive research.
The panel recommended that proton-pump inhibitors used to combat stomach complaints, triptan-class drugs for migraines, sartans for high blood pressure and statins used to treat high cholesterol could be subject to price restriction.
Governments across Europe are trying to rein in runaway healthcare costs caused by ageing populations and advances in medical technology that have pushed up the cost of treatment.
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