German pharmacists' fears over drug supply

The German pharmacists' federation, the ABDA, says the public drugsupply is threatened by government health policy. ABDA president Johannes Metzger says the profession will not accept "scandalous" attempts to make unacceptable savings in the drug sector at the expense of both patients and pharmacies. He also says pharmacists' economic existence is threatened when high-value drugs can be imported via the Internet and price controls are applied by the government, while lower value-added tax rates or no drug taxes at all prevails in other countries.