German Drug Market "Set To Expand"

Germany's drug market will expand in the medium term, despite economic pressure on health spending, Merck KGaA director Edward Roberts told the Health 97 Euroforum conference.

Volume growth is the main component of drug sales growth, especially in sectors where cost-cutting measures have ended price as a factor in the market, he said. He also expects further innovation in the market despite the downward pressure on prices, accompanied by the more efficient use of drugs through the advance of health maintenance organizations.

Mr Roberts called for a "re-engineering" of the health care sector on the lines of current industrial reorganization. The age of "list medicine," state control of detail and cumbersome all-in legislation was past, he said, and the future belongs to ideas of self-administration.