Drug Firms Affected By "Slowdown" Of German Market

November and December last year were difficult months for pharmaceuticalcompanies in Germany, according to pharmaceutical analysts Mark Tracey and John Murphy at broker Goldman Sachs in the UK.

Data compiled by IMS on pharmaceutical sales in the first 10 months of last year in Germany showed sales growth of 8%. This level of growth led to predictions of a budget overshoot of around 5 billion Deutschemarks ($3.2 billion) by German Health Minister Horst Seehofer, with 3 billion marks of this total accounted for by pharmaceuticals.

The response to this was a tightening of prescribing by doctors in Germany to slow down growth of drug sales, with a reduction in prescription numbers and an increase in prescribing of cheaper or alternative products, commented the analysts. They noted that generics currently account for around 40% of the German market by value.