by Hélène Mauduit
BERLIN, May 12 (APM) - The German medical association (BAK) wants more transparency and control over drug prices, its chairman has said at a press conference.
"All the [other] stakeholders in the health system - hospitals, doctors and other professions - have to account for their revenues to the health insurance. The pharma industry is the only one which can set its prices freely," said Frank-Ulrich Montgomery at the press conference in Berlin on Wednesday.
Montgomery hopes that significant changes will be introduced in the upcoming bill which will modify the AMNOG law, which came into force in 2011.
The government announced in mid-April that it plans to introduce a volume pricing threshold for very high-priced drugs (APMMA 47326).
Under the current system, new drugs are reimbursed by the health insurance from time of launch at a price freely determined by the manufacturer while a reimbursed price, negotiated with umbrella payer group GKV-Spitzenverband (GKV-SV), generally applies only from the beginning of the 13th month after launch.
Montgomery reiterated that he wanted the first year of free pricing to be abolished.
"We need a complete transparency," he said, adding that manufacturers should disclose production costs and the complete results of clinical studies.
Montgomery also said that price negotiations between manufacturers and the GKV-SV should no longer be kept secret.
"We need to consider the cost-effectiveness Relationship; the market alone should not determine the value of the drug," he said.
He added that real-world evidence, showing how the drug is used and performs in real-world medical settings, should be used to assess all new drugs.
The subject will be discussed on May 25 at BAK's annual assembly in Hamburg together with the chairman of the association of research-based pharma companies vfa, Hagen Pfundner.
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