BERLIN, May 31 (APM) - New drugs are often a better treatment option than older ones, even if they do not receive an 'added benefit' rating in the health technology assessment (HTA) procedure, German pharma lobby vfa said in an open letter to health minister Hermann Groehe.
There have been cases of drugs which did not show added benefit in early HTA procedures, but were found to have considerable added benefit in later assessments, vfa's general manager Birgit Fischer added in the letter on Monday.
In such cases, patients could be deprived of appropriate treatment if they are not given the new drugs, Fischer said.
Drugs with a 'no added benefit' rating are at least as good as their comparators, she said.
She asked Groehe to ensure objectivity in the debate on the HTA procedure, after German umbrella payer group GKV-Spitzenverband (GKV-SV) published a press release on doctor information systems on Wednesday.
GKV-SV had said that patients may suffer due to doctors' lack of awareness about HTA decisions, because they could end up receiving drugs with no added benefit but which possibly have severe side effects.
Lack of access to the appropriate information is preventing doctors from prescribing accurately and economically, GKV-SV said.
Vfa is disconcerted by GKV-SV's public relations strategy, because it distributes "wrong" facts and makes patients feel insecure, Fischer wrote.
Side effects appear with all drugs and differ from patient to patient, but they are not limited to drugs with no added benefit, Fischer said. If a drug has more side effects than its comparator, it will receive a 'lower benefit' rating, according to Fischer.
Doctors are currently highly responsible and accurate in their prescriptions, she said.
Fischer also contradicted GKV-SV's notion that new drugs are usually more expensive for health insurers than current standard treatments.
If a drug does not have an added benefit versus its comparator, the law dictates that it cannot be more expensive than the most economical comparator therapy, Fischer said.
According to the letter, vfa welcomes initiatives to inform doctors better about the benefits of drugs - but the information should be complete and unambiguous, so that the doctor's freedom to choose a treatment is not limited.
The information system for doctors should not become an instrument to control costs for payers, as suggested by GKV-SV, Fischer said. Vfa rejects the idea that payers should evaluate doctors' prescriptions, she said.
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