Tough Times Ahead For German Parallel Traders

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Focusing on new methods to control rising healthcare costs, German Health Minister Philipp Rösler is planning to abolish a law that makes it mandatory for 5% of the turnover of a pharmacy to be comprised of parallel imports. Despite resistance from pharmacists, re-import substitution has been an important policy instrument for cost-containment. The current framework agreement sets out the specific parallel import quota of a pharmacy's turnover (5%) and if a pharmacy does not reach this quota, its reimbursement claim is - to a specific rate - cut by the health insurance funds. However, new cost-saving plans, including price cuts