Cost Containment Measures Take Effect In Europe's Largest Pharmaceutical Market

The German government remains committed to its fiscal austerity programme, through which Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schauble plans to cut spending by EUR80bn (US$103bn) by 2014. With pharmaceutical spending reaching a value of EUR39.18bn (US$51.97bn) in 2010, it comes as no surprise that the government is focused on medicine prices. In November 2010, the Bundestag finalised the Reorganisation of the Pharmaceutical Market (Arzneimittelmarkt-Neuordnungsgesetz; AMNOG) law, requiring drug companies and health insurers to negotiate the prices of new drugs based on cost-effectiveness criteria, which came into effect in January 2011. Highlighting the effects of these measures, BMI notes that consumer price

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