FRANKFURT, April 21 (Reuters) – AstraZeneca’s CEO told daily Handelsblatt on Tuesday that Germany risks missing out on new drugs that the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker plans to launch if the nation sticks with plans to keep spending on pharmaceuticals in check.
“When we can’t launch some of those products, it’s really a problem,” he was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “It’s going to be very hard for us, we’re going to be attacked, but in the end we will have no choice, also because of the pressure in the U.S.”
Germany’s coalition government last week announced a raft of measures to overhaul the statutory health insurance system to reduce a looming funding gap by 20 billion euros.
Under the proposals, an existing mandatory discount on patented drugs could become steeper under a variable mechanism that depends on overall drug expenditures and on contributions paid.
“The proposed regulation is a dangerous backward step,” said Soriot.
U.S. President Donald Trump has been pushing to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the United States, which has traditionally paid significantly more than other wealthy countries. He has sought to tie the cost for Americans to what is paid elsewhere, including in Europe, known as most-favoured-nation pricing.
Drugmakers have delayed launches of some new medicines in Europe in response to the U.S. pressure, a Reuters report showed last month.
“It’s really not a threat. If you look at the mathematics, you realize that the business impact is so big, we have no choice,” Soriot was quoted as saying.
He warned that Europe overall was at risk of becoming a place for sales offices for the industry and no longer for research, development and manufacturing.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Editing by Louise Heavens)
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