A Focus On Medicine Prices

Patients in Germany pay significantly more for their medicines than those in other select European countries, according to a study carried out by Institute of Pharmacology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. For example, Merck's Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix cost approximately 50% more in Germany than in Switzerland. The study attributes the high cost of medicines to the lack of effective price controls in place in the country and says that the mechanisms in place for authorities and statutory insurance companies to reduce drug prices do not apply when a novel drug is brought into the market.

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