Court Bans German Health Fund Drugs List

Public-sector health funds in Germany may not publish any list ofpharmaceutical products containing controversial drugs or which positively recommend cheaper drugs as alternatives.

This is the ruling of the Dusseldorf state court on the 1997 Drug Prescription Report, the AVR, in a cost brought against seven health funds by the drugmaker Dr Willmar Schwabe Arzneimittel on the grounds of the commercial impact of this annual report. The court deals especially with commercial cases and is said to have judged that the published report amounts to a form of impermissible control of the drug market. An appeal may be made against the judgement to a higher court.