German drug spend soars; funds' concerns

Rising spending on pharmaceutical products in Germany this year isexpected to add extra costs of some 3 billion Deutschemarks ($1.34 billion) to the reimbursement bill of the country's health funds.

A paper produced by the leading funds argues that the Health Minister's plans to remove catch-all collective penalties from doctors for overshooting drug budgets will undermine "prescribing discipline." The Minister, Ulla Schmidt, is seen by the funds as having failed to create any means of keeping drug costs in check in the current year. Drug spending is estimated to have risen by as much as 7.9% in the first quarter of 2001 and, if this trend is maintained, 3 billion marks of extra pharmaceutical spending will be added.

Price support after 2003 with Ministry