Cost-cutting by drugmakers in Germany

Pharmaceutical companies in Germany, faced with cost pressures, are preparing to make economies on administration, marketing and distribution, while at the same time increasing investment in R&D.

Peter Albiez, head of distribution for Pfizer Pharma GmbH, the local unit of the global drugs behemoth, has said that costs could be reduced between 15% and 20%. Sanofi-Aventis' German subsidiary has said these expenses currently account for some 27% of sales and could be reduced in the medium term to around 20%.

The reported intention of most of the companies is to plough the savings into clinical development, not least because, as Heinz-Werner Meier of Sanofi-Aventis has pointed out, marketing approval and the entire marketing operation now require better data than in the past, with emphasis being put on end-point studies which underscore patient survival prospects. All this means increased clinical development costs.