Firms "Not To Blame" For German Cost Rises

The drug industry should not be held responsible for the sharp rise in german health care spending, Hans Ruediger Vogel, president of the industry association, the BPI, has said.

In first-half 1995, drug prices rose by only 0.2%, he said, and they have in fact lagged behind cost-of-living rises since the end of the 1980s. The latest market data from IMS showed that in eastern Germany, sales of reimbursable prescription drugs had risen by 13.2% compared with first-half 1994, while the rise in western Germany was 8.8%.

Pharmacists sold 9.4 billion Deutschemarks ($6.3 billion) worth of drugs in the first six months, calculated in terms of manufacturers' prices, equivalent to a rise of 9.4%, with second-quarter 1995 growth of 7.7%. Sales of antibiotics rose 22.9% in the six months, while those of cough and cold cures went up 17.7%. Sales of treatments for diabetes rose 13.5%.